‘Incident between neighbours’: 2 murder charges laid in Chilliwack double shooting

An 83-year-old man has received two second-degree murder charges related to a double-fatal shooting in Chilliwack, B.C.

On Wednesday, Chilliwack RCMP officers responded to a report of shots fired on Chilliwack Lake Road around 7:45 p.m.

Officers found two victims inside a home, who have now been identified as 58-year-old John Kavaloff and 67-year-old Valerie Smith.

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Robert Freeman of Chilliwack has since been arrested and charged in connection with the killings.

“This appears to be an isolated incident between neighbours,” said Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team in a Friday news release.

Police had previously said a neighbour was arrested at the scene.

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Luan Bernhardt, who has lived in the area for about 20 years, called it a wonderful and quiet community that has been shaken to the core since the tragedy.

“A lot of your neighbours are like family,” she told Global News. “We’re totally shocked that a neighbourhood incident would escalate to this kind of violence.”

Bernhardt said she knew both Kavaloff and Smith, and described them as a friendly couple. Kavaloff was often seen walking his dog and rode his motorcycle around the neighbourhood, she added.

Bernhardt said she knew the suspect as well, and described him as “very quiet, kind of a loner, but friendly to us.”

“It was really a surprise and a shock, and most of the neighbours, we just can’t believe that this could have happened in our neighbourhood,” she said.

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Neighbour Melody Spedding agreed, called the shooting “tragic.”

“We’ve had a lot of shocking situations happening in the community lately with another incident that happened … we’re a quiet community with friendly neighbours and we’re speechless really, with everything that’s happened.”

Spedding moved into the neighbourhood two months ago. She said she didn’t know the victims or the suspect, but saw the suspect leave his house in front of her property with his hands up and lower himself to the ground after the incident.

“I could tell that he was clearly in trouble with the police. I didn’t know anything about what had happened. I didn’t hear any gunshots or anything like that,” she recalled.

“He just crawled on all fours towards the police car … I stepped away from the window and locked the doors.”

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It’s the second shooting on Chilliwack Lake Road this month.

On Sept. 3, a man was shot but not killed in what RCMP described as an “isolated incident.” In that case, a 43-year-old man was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and discharging a firearm with intent.

The 35-year-old victim sustained an apparent life-threatening gunshot wound, but was in stable condition as of Sept. 6.

Anyone with information on the Wednesday incident asked to contact 1-877-551-4448. The investigation remains ongoing.

— with files from Elizabeth McSheffrey and Christa Dao