B.C. police charge Ontario man in connection with 2009 gang murder

SURREY, B.C. – Police in British Columbia have arrested and charged an Ontario man with first-degree murder dating back to what they say was the height of a gang war in Metro Vancouver.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton says 37-year-old Kreshnik Ismailaj is accused of the February 2009 killing of Kevin Leclair, and he’ll remain in police custody while a trial date is set.

Police say in a statement that Ismailaj was tracked down by the provincial anti-gang unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C., and arrested without incident in Whitby, Ont., on July 27.

Kreshnik has no previous criminal record, and is believed to have recently moved to Ontario from B.C.

Houghton says the near ten-year-long investigation has involved hundreds of officers from B.C. and Ontario.

The anti-gang unit took over the investigation from B.C.’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team in late 2017, and is still searching for Conor D’Monte, a man allegedly linked to the death, who is believed to have fled Canada in 2011.