Speed was of the essence in hunt for gang members

Police believed they had to act quickly to apprehend four members of a street gang who are facing charges in three separate homicides in Alberta and Saskatoon.

“In 2½ months we’ve gone from zero to 100 miles an hour,” said Insp. Jerry Scott of the Alberta RCMP’s major crimes unit. “It’s not usual to proceed that quickly, but there was a public safety issue with these four individuals.”

The string of homicides began in Saskatoon with the random shooting of Lorry Anne Santos.

Two weeks later, the body of 35-year-old Bryan Gower was found in a remote area near Kitscoty, northwest of Lloydminster.

On Oct. 20, the headless body of 54-year-old Robert John (Bob) Roth was found in a ditch near Range Road 121, north of Township Road 513 near Ranfurly, 120 kilometres east of Edmonton. Four days later, a passerby discovered Roth’s head in an alley near 132nd Avenue and 72nd Street in Edmonton.

Apart from Santos, police say all the victims knew the accused, as did police.

Those facing charges are Randy James Wayne O’Hagan, 22, Kyle Darren Halbauer, 22, Joshua Dylan Petrin, 29, and Nikolas Jon Nowytzkyj, 32. All are from Alberta.

Police say they are affiliated with the White Boy Posse, a white supremacist street gang that has known drug ties, operates primarily in northern Alberta, but also as far as Saskatoon and the Northwest Territories. The group has also been described as having close ties to the Hells Angels, an outlaw biker gang.

The public portions of the personal Facebook pages of Halbauer and O’Hagan show a fondness for street gang-themed photos and quotes.

Halbauer “liked” a page titled I HATE POLICE and he has posted in recent months — either quotes or his own words — descriptions of gang life. “People keep two faces with the fake one showing,” he wrote on Oct. 1, six days after Gower was killed.

On Sept. 15, three days after Santos was shot dead, Halbauer wrote, “I think city POLICE and the local RCMP should have a battle ... To the death.”

O’Hagan’s Facebook profile is less accessible to the public, but his posted photos show the young man making gang signs and guns with his hands. His profile picture is two revolvers with barrels to the ground over a heart symbol with the words, “This is What it Sounds Like When Thugs Cry.”