Man charged in LeClair killing
Police allege several people involved in 2009 murder
We are confident we will eventually find and arrest the last remaining suspect in Kevin LeClair’s murder.”
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton
An Ontario man has been charged with first-degree murder nine years after the 2009 slaying of a Red Scorpion gang member, Kevin LeClair, in Langley.
Kreshnik Ismailaj, 37, was arrested without incident Friday in Whitby, Ont. with the help of local police, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. said Monday in a statement.
He has been transported to the Lower Mainland, where he remains in custody.
Ismailaj, who has no criminal record, recently moved to Ontario from B.C., said the CFSEU, the provincial antigang unit. No court date has been set.
“This investigation, and all those investigations connected to it and the gang conflict in the late 2000s, has involved hundreds of officers from dozens of police agencies and units,” said CFSEU spokesman Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton.
Ismailaj is one of several people police allege they have identified as playing a role in the death of LeClair outside a strip mall on Feb. 6, 2009, at the height of a deadly gang conflict between the United Nations and Red Scorpions gang.
Last month, Cory Vallee, a hitman for the United Nations gang, was convicted of first-degree murder in LeClair’s death. Vallee received an automatic life sentence with no hope of parole for 25 years.
The LeClair investigation remains active, police said.
Conor Vincent D’Monte is another person alleged to have participated in LeClair’s killing. D’Monte is believed to have fled Canada in 2011 to escape arrest.
On Monday, police reiterated its resolve to capture all perpetrators in the case.
“Time does not dampen our resolve and we are confident that we will eventually find and arrest the last remaining suspect in Kevin LeClair’s murder, no matter where he might be hiding,” said Houghton.