Two men have now been found guilty of first-degree murder charges in the 2009 murder of Rajinder (Raj) Singh Soomel.
Rajinder Soomel was fatally shot on Cambie Street almost seven years ago, not far from the halfway house he had been paroled to. When officers arrived they found him lying dead in the middle of the street.
Although his criminal past had ties to the world of gangs, police believed Soomel’s murder was a case of mistaken identity.
Soomel was not the intended victim and was in the wrong place at the wrong time when gunmen came looking for another target, Randy Naicker. Vancouver Police Detective investigators did speak with and inform Naiker that his life could still be in danger. He would later be murdered on June 25, 2012, in Port Moody. That homicide remains under investigation.
On June 20, 2014, police arrested and charged thirty-two-year-old Colin Victor Stewart of Surrey and 35-year-old Vancouver resident Kevin James Jones with first degree murder. They were found guilty of murder earlier this week by a jury, and have been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years.