MOTHER INNOCENT VICTIM
Accused tied to street gang
Three men with ties to a white supremacist Alberta gang face first-degree murder charges in the death of Lorry Anne Santos, who was shot and killed after she answered her door to gunmen who had gone to the wrong house while trying to expand into the Saskatoon drug trade.
The family of the Saskatoon wife and mother of four is glad police have confirmed Santos had no connection to criminals who shot through her living room window in September, a family friend speaking on their behalf said.
“This is what we knew all along, that they went to the wrong house. ... The police chief confirmed what we knew all along,” said Jenelyn Santos-Ong.
Three members of the Alberta-based White Boy Posse gang have been charged, members of the Saskatoon Police Service and Alberta RCMP K Division said at a news conference Tuesday.
Two of the men are also charged in two homicides that occurred in small Alberta communities this fall.
“The scope of this investigation grew beyond what we expected when we started,” said Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill.
“What began as a single investigation has grown into one involving three victims and four accused,” said Saskatoon police Insp. Jerome Engele.
Insp. Garrett Woolsey, of Alberta’s RCMP K Division, said the weekend arrests were the result of 2½ months of work by the Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon integrated drug unit, RCMP, the Alberta law enforcement response team and the Edmonton Police Service.
“The suspects are behind bars due to the collective efforts of all the police forces involved in these investigations,” Woolsey said.
At its peak, more than 100 officers worked full time on the case.
Joshua Dylan Petrin, 29, of Edmonton appeared in Saskatoon provincial court Tuesday charged with firstdegree murder in Santos’s death and with conspiracy to commit murder. He was remanded and will be brought back to court Jan. 15.
Randy James Wayne O’Hagan, 22, of Lloydminster, Alta., has also been charged with first-degree murder but has yet to appear in a Saskatoon courtroom.
A third man, Kyle Darren Halbauer, 22, was charged with first-degree murder in Saskatoon court Monday and with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. He was remanded to Jan. 15.
Halbauer and O’Hagan are also charged with firstdegree murder in the Sept. 25 shooting death of Bryan Gower, whose body was found on a rural road near Kitscoty, Alta.
Both are also charged with attempted murder of another man in connection with the same incident. Police have not released that man’s name.
O’Hagan and Nikolas Nowytzkyj, 32, of Wainwright, Alta., are also charged with first-degree murder in the death of Robert John Roth Sr. and with offering an indignity to the body. Roth’s partial remains were found Oct. 20, near Ranfurly, Alta. On Oct. 25 the victim’s head was found in Edmonton.
Alberta police agencies were investigating the White Boy Posse for drug trafficking, mainly in Lloydminster and eastern Alberta, when the homicides occurred, Woolsey said.
The group is involved in trafficking cocaine and other drugs from Yellowknife to Medicine Hat, Alberta police have said. It often uses the swastika in tattoos and other gang paraphernalia.
Halbauer was arrested Friday in the Lloydminster area and the others were already in custody on other charges when they were charged in the homicides on the weekend.
Police are still investigating and are saying little about how the case unfolded.
Weighill reiterated his early comments that the house was targeted deliberately, but added police know now the shooters went to the wrong place.
“We didn’t know if it was a wrong address or if there was a reason for them to go to that house,” he said.
“They were way off. They came from out of the city. They had the wrong address.
“I can’t think of anything more reprehensible than somebody sitting in the confines, safety of their own home, when something of this nature happens,” Weighill said. “It’s just beyond the pale.” Police are confident they have “disrupted certain elements of this group,” Woolsey said.
“We believe we’ve dismantled that organization,” Weighill said.
There were no Saskatoon residents implicated in Santos’s death, but it is believed the intended target was somehow involved in the drug trade, he said.
The lure of money in Saskatchewan’s booming economy continues to draw drug dealers, Weighill said.
“This was a cross-border gang that was trying to infiltrate the Saskatoon market. There’s no gang war going on here. This had nothing to do with gang affiliation in the city of Saskatoon.”
Santos-Ong, who is not related to the victim, said the family is grateful to the police for their hard work.
“The police really did their work. They’ve done a great job ... We have faith in them. We trust them. They’re doing everything they can to keep us safe.
“They’re glad they’ll be able to get answers now but it’s still a very difficult time for them,” she said of Santos’s family. “They’re just trying to live day by day and just really leaning on one another.”