Dennis Richard Karbovanec has plead guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder
Dennis Richard Karbovanec has plead guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, RCMP confirmed Friday afternoon. It comes 18 months after the so-called ‘Surrey Six’ slayings that saw two innocent men die.Karbovanec, 27, plead guilty at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Friday morning, RCMP said.The murder charges concern the deaths of 19-year-old Ryan Bartolomeo and 26-year-old Michael Lal. The third charge is for the death of 22-year-old Chris Mohan, who RCMP say was an innocent bystander caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.Ed Schellenberg, 55, was the other innocent victim.Karbovanec also plead guilty to conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Corey Lal, Michael’s brother.Speaking with reporters briefly Friday, RCMP Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesman Corp. Dale Carr called the murders on the 15th floor of a condo complex “horrific.”“[We’ve] obviously made it a very big priority, allocating resources that were almost unprecedented,” Carr said.RCMP say arrests are ongoing. Three other people named as co-conspirators are James Kyle Bacon, 23, of Abbotsford; Matthew James Johnston, 24, of New Westminster; and Cory Ray Haevischer, 24, of Nanaimo.RCMP have scheduled a press conference for Saturday afternoon, where it’s expected further details of the investigation, dubbed Project E-PESETA, will be made public.Police have issued rare public warnings about Karbovanec and Bacon, saying they were known gang members being targeted by rivals and that associating with them could put people in harm's way.Bacon survived an attempted hit in January and has two other Bacon brothers who have also been the subject of police warnings.
The brothers have been linked to the Red Scorpions, a gang that police say is currently in a turf war with the UN gang.
Gang expert Julian Sher said the arrests mark a significant breakthrough for police, but it's difficult to say how they will affect the ongoing violence."We don't know (the effect), is the simple answer," said Sher, an author whose work has focused on biker gangs such as the Hells Angels."Generally, it's a good sign. Suddenly, your gang is fighting a war on a different front. Suddenly, you need lawyers, you've got to fight for bail. It keeps you busy and it's going to make them a lot more nervous."The Bacons live in a quiet neighbourhood of newer homes near Abbotsford, with panoramic vistas of the Fraser Valley, their house adorned with lights and security cameras.Next-door neighbour Silvio Zampieri said nearly a dozen police cars surrounded the two-story house on Friday, as officers with "very big guns" told him and his family to stay inside."They said to close the windows and doors and go back inside," said Zampieri, who lives with his wife, two children and mother-in-law."I was scared and all my family were scared."Zampieri said he has not spoken to the Bacon brothers or their parents, who they live with, although he sees them coming and going occasionally. He said he and his wife but will say "hi" to the parents when they see them.
The brothers have been linked to the Red Scorpions, a gang that police say is currently in a turf war with the UN gang.
Gang expert Julian Sher said the arrests mark a significant breakthrough for police, but it's difficult to say how they will affect the ongoing violence."We don't know (the effect), is the simple answer," said Sher, an author whose work has focused on biker gangs such as the Hells Angels."Generally, it's a good sign. Suddenly, your gang is fighting a war on a different front. Suddenly, you need lawyers, you've got to fight for bail. It keeps you busy and it's going to make them a lot more nervous."The Bacons live in a quiet neighbourhood of newer homes near Abbotsford, with panoramic vistas of the Fraser Valley, their house adorned with lights and security cameras.Next-door neighbour Silvio Zampieri said nearly a dozen police cars surrounded the two-story house on Friday, as officers with "very big guns" told him and his family to stay inside."They said to close the windows and doors and go back inside," said Zampieri, who lives with his wife, two children and mother-in-law."I was scared and all my family were scared."Zampieri said he has not spoken to the Bacon brothers or their parents, who they live with, although he sees them coming and going occasionally. He said he and his wife but will say "hi" to the parents when they see them.
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