It’s now been a month since Richmond recorded its first homicide of 2017, but police investigators appear to be no further ahead in making an arrest.
No arrest has been made, either, in the city’s third homicide, which happened two weeks ago. Both deaths were described by police as “targeted.”
Cpl. Meghan Foster, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), told the Richmond News that officers are “still pursuing leads” and asked the public for information.
Francis Le, 24, of Surrey, was found unresponsive in the parking lot of Richmond Hospital shortly before midnight on Friday, Jan. 27. When the police arrived, Le was found to be suffering from “injuries consistent with foul play.”
On Jan. 10, Richmond produced Metro Vancouver’s first homicide of the year, when 21-year-old Vancouver resident Calvin Chi Hang Zhao was found shot dead in his black SUV outside of a townhouse complex on Ash Street at Granville Avenue. According to media reports, the vehicle was still running when police arrived at the scene. Police, initially, believed a white SUV may be linked to the shooter.
Foster said this week that there is still no evidence to link the homicides to each other or, indeed, to Richmond’s second suspicious death, which occurred on Monday, Jan. 17, when a man’s body was found inside the premises of a trucking firm on Viking Way, near Cambie Road. A man has been arrested in connection with that homicide and is in police custody.
