Gangster survives another bullet
VANCOUVER • Longtime gangster Kyle Gianis was one of two men shot in Kelowna, B.C., on Saturday — the second time he’s been wounded by a gunman in recent months.
The next day Kelowna RCMP issued an extraordinary warning, saying anyone associating with Gianis, 37, could become collateral damage if he is targeted again.
The Kelowna man and a 25-year-old Surrey associate were both wounded in the shooting just before 7 p.m. Both were taken to hospital. Gianis has been released.
“We have reason to believe this was a targeted attack on these two men,” Kelowna RCMP Insp. Beth Mcandie said. “Because of his criminal activities and associates, Mr. Gianis poses a threat to our community and the public in general, and we are putting all our resources into investigating this newest incident.”
Witnesses reported a man fleeing the scene in a silver SUV. No arrests have been made.
RCMP Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy said officers “located what is believed to be an undetonated improvised explosive device” while investigating the shooting.
“Police immediately cordoned off the area. It will remain closed until officers with the RCMP explosives disposal unit have safely dealt with the device.”
On March 29, Gianis was shot and wounded outside a gym. He mocked his attackers, who have not been charged, in a social media post where he said, “I hope you kept your receipt goof troop crew to get a refund cause your order didn’t go through.”
Gianis survived a 2017 gangland hit in Langley that killed his friend, Tyler Pastuck. In 2018, he was hunted again, but the assassin went to the wrong house and killed Surrey nurse Paul Bennett, a family man and hockey coach who lived nearby.
Gianis opened a sportswear company called Iron Athletics Inc. in West Kelowna in 2019.
In March, B.C.’S anti-gang agency and Kelowna RCMP searched Gianis’ West Kelowna house but no charges have been laid.
Last November, drug trafficker David Tull was sentenced to almost 12 years in prison for his role in the 2017 conspiracy to murder Gianis, his former associate in the drug world who was marked for death after double-crossing Tull.
Gianis was wounded in the shooting outside a restaurant, where he had been dining with Pastuck, who was hit with a single bullet and died.
Tull pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Gianis and a first-degree murder charge in Pastuck’s death was stayed.
Gianis was convicted in 2008 of smuggling the chemical used to make methamphetamine into Washington state and sentenced to 13 years. He was transferred to a Canadian jail in June 2012 and granted day parole in 2013, despite evidence he’d been associating in prison with members of the United Nations and Dhak-duhre gangs.