`High-profile' gang target survives third attempted hit
Kyle Gianis is one lucky man.
He survived a 2017 gangland hit in Langley that left his friend Tyler Pastuck dead.
In 2018, he was hunted again, but the assassin went to the wrong house and killed Surrey nurse Paul Bennett, a family man and hockey coach who lived nearby.
Gianis was targeted again Monday outside a Kelowna gym, but is expected to survive.
Police weren't releasing the name of the man who was shot and wounded in the 1500 block of Harvey Avenue just after 12:30 p.m.
But Postmedia confirmed with several sources that it was Gianis, who opened a sportswear company called Iron Athletics Inc. in West Kelowna in 2019.
The company's Facebook page has two recent posts stating they would be at Global Fitness Centre and linking to the gym's site.
Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy said Tuesday that the victim's “injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening. We have no further updates at this time.”
Earlier, she said in a news release that “witnesses reported a man fleeing the scene in a grey or silver car. A short time later, a matching vehicle was located burning on Longhill Road in Kelowna.”
She urged anyone with information or video from the area to contact investigators at 250-7623300.
The shooting came just five days after B.C.'s anti-gang agency and Kelowna RCMP executed a search warrant at Gianis' West Kelowna house in the 3100 block of Vineyard View Drive.
Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said Tuesday that the anti-gang agency's “South East District office is working in collaboration with the Kelowna RCMP on an investigation involving a high-profile target with a lengthy history of involvement in organized crime and the drug trade.
“The arrest of this male and subsequent search warrant of his residence is indicative of his continued alleged criminal behaviour,” she said without naming Gianis.
“Our officers are working diligently to assist the Kelowna RCMP to complete the investigation in support of criminal charges.”
Just last November, trafficker David Tull was sentenced to almost 12 years in jail for his role in the 2017 conspiracy to murder Gianis, his former associate in the drug world who was marked for death after double-crossing Tull.
Gianis was wounded in the June 9, 2017 shooting outside a restaurant where he had been dining with Pastuck, who was hit with a single bullet and died.
Tull pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Gianis and a first-degree murder charge in Pastuck's death was stayed.
“This was a sophisticated and sustained operation in which an open contract had been taken and hit men were recruited to carry out the murder of Mr. Gianis,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin said.
“Communication among the group was over encrypted phone devices, which would assist in insulating them.”
No one has yet been charged in the June 23, 2018 murder of Bennett, who was in his driveway in the 18200 block of 67A Avenue when he was gunned down at about 4 p.m.
Sources earlier confirmed to Postmedia that Gianis lived in the area and was believed to have been the intended target of the shooters.
Gianis was convicted in 2008 of smuggling the chemical used to make methamphetamine into Washington state and sentenced to 13 years.
He was transferred to a Canadian jail in June 2012 and granted day parole in January 2013, despite evidence at his parole hearing that he had been associating in prison with members of the United Nations and Dhak-Duhre gangs.
Last year, he released a “motivational” video explaining how he had changed his life around with his new company after a rough childhood and early entry into the Surrey drug trade.
After his U.S. sentence, he beat cancer, Gianis said, only to be shot in 2017, he said.
An open contract had been taken and hit men were recruited to carry out the murder of Mr. Gianis.