Okanagan murders tick higher in 2016

Vancouver’s 41 greatest total while Thunder Bay, Ont., had 6.64 per 100K population

The Central Okanagan’s homicide rate increased by about half a percentage point from 2015 to 2016, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

In 2015, there were four homicides in the Kelowna census metropolitan area, which includes Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland and Lake Country, at a rate of 2.06 per 100,000 people.

In 2016, Statistics Canada reported there were five homicides at a rate of 2.54 per 100,000 people in the Central Okanagan.

The first of those homicides occurred on Jan. 6 in West Kelowna when 22-year-old Tura Stephen McCarty’s body was found in a car on Bear Creek Road.

The second was on Feb. 17, when Zachary Gaudette was killed outside Cactus Club in Kelowna after he was punched to the ground by Cory Van Gilder.

Earlier this year, Van Gilder was found not guilty of manslaughter, because the jury found he was acting in self defence.

The third homicide occurred on March 2, when Kimberly Ansell, 31, and Marcello Verna, 20, were found dead in a wooded area in West Kelowna in the area of Shannon Way and Westville Way. The BC Coroners Service reported it was a murder-suicide.

The fourth homicide was a fatal stabbing on March 11 in Rutland.

Waylon Percy Junior Jackson, 26, died of his wounds shortly after being rushed to the hospital.

Chad Colton Alphonse, 26, was arrested shortly after and was charged with second-degree murder.

The final homicide of the year was on Aug. 5, when 35-year-old Benjamin Cory Virgint was found dead inside a home on Hein Road in Rutland.

This year so far, there have been three homicides in the Kelowna area.

The first was on April 1, when Michael Madsen’s body was found inside a burning home on Stockwell Avenue. The second was on Sept. 1 when Joel Pennell, 27, was killed in a targeted shooting on McTaggart Road in West Kelowna.

The third homicide was on Oct. 11, when Russia Nicholson, 23, was found dead in an orchard near Orchard Park mall.

In B.C., there were 87 homicides in 2016 at a rate of 1.83 per 100,000 people, down from 97 homicides in 2015 at a rate of 2.07.

The highest rate of homicides was in Abbotsford Mission with six homicides at a rate of 3.22 per 100,000 people.

The highest number of homicides was in Vancouver with 41 at a rate of 1.61 per 100,000 people.

The lowest overall was in Victoria with one homicide at a rate of 0.27 per 100,000 people.

The highest rate of homicides in Canada in 2016 was in Thunder Bay, Ont., with eight homicides at a rate of 6.64 per 100,000 people, up from three homicides the year before at a rate of 2.48.

Greater Sudbury, Kingston and Trois-Rivieres all had zero homicides in 2016.

The Canadian city with the lowest rate of homicides greater than zero was Quebec City with one homicide at a rate of 0.12 per 100,000 people.