Third man held in 2014 Richmond gang slaying

B.C.’s anti-gang agency announced charges Friday against a third suspect in the October 2014 targeted murder of Theoren Poitras in Richmond.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said 25-year-old Edmonton resident David Nguyen has been charged with first-degree murder in Poitras’s fatal shooting.

Last year, Sean Jacob Lee Jennings, of Edmonton, was charged as the alleged shooter, and Peter Edmonds was charged with accessory after the fact in Poitras’s murder.

Poitras was found face down in a pool of blood in the northwest corner of RC Talmey Elementary School, in the 9500-block of Kilby Drive, after area residents reported hearing shots fired.

Houghton said CFSEU worked with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and with the Edmonton Police Service on the case.

Houghton said Nguyen has been in custody since his arrest in March 2015 and is facing a total of 20 criminal charges in Edmonton, including break and enter, robbery with a firearm, unlawful confinement, aggravated assault and various other firearms charges.

“This collaborative effort by the CFSEU-BC, IHIT, and the Edmonton Police Service leveraged the expertise and abilities of each agency to most effectively target some of the most violent, prolific offend- ers operating in B.C. and Alberta in order to obtain successful criminal charges and get these individuals off our streets,” CFSEU Chief Supt. Kevin Hackett said.

IHIT Supt. Dwayne McDonald said the new charges against Nguyen “speaks to the tenacity our investigators show in their pursuit of evidence to solve gang-related homicides which put the public at risk.” Edmonton Insp. Peter BruniBossio said the cross-border co-operation was essential in the case “to prevent further violence, and hold individuals accountable for their behaviour.”