Man sentenced to life in prison for killing 19-year-old in Burnaby last year

A man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years in the killing of a 19-year-old in Burnaby, B.C., last spring.

Ahmed Tahir, 21, was sentenced last Friday for shooting Blerton Dalipi outside a vape shop on 6th Street on May 8, 2021. A bystander also sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the attack.

Dashcam footage of the incident showed at least three people and the victim in the line of fire, and five gunshots could be heard.

According to the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), Coquitlam RCMP were conducting unrelateds surveillance in the 7700-block of 6th Street at the time of the murder. They saw a man in black “run up to a storefront” and begin to pace outside of it with his hands in his pockets.

Dalipi exited the store and the man fatally shot him. Tahir was arrested the same day and charged with first degree murder on May 9.

Both men were known to police and to each other, said Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of IHIT on Tuesday. Tahir entered a guilty plea, and on June 1, 2022, was convicted of second-degree murder.

“It’s believed that Mr. Tahir thought that Mr. Dalipi had been involved in a previous incident and as such was there to take revenge,” Pierotti told Global News.

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Pierotti declined to reveal the specifics of that incident as Dalipi “never got his day in court,” but said a file related to it has now been closed.

“It’s an absolute tragedy for both of these young men, specifically the victim who died,” he said.

“I’ve had the opportunity personally to meet with his family and know how devastating this is for them as well as their community … the suspect was also very young and never really had a chance to turn his life around.”

Pierotti said overall, the RCMP is pleased with the outcome of the investigation.