| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay | September 2009 
Little Likelihood of Arrests in Local Murders: Journalist
 CTV.ca
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September 29, 2009
Related: Pair Slain in Mexico Known to Police in B.C.
Official Version of Dept. of Public Safety: "Unknown Subjects Riddle Two Foreigners" - posted on September 27, 2009
| | Two men, believed to be Gordon Douglas Kendall, left, and Jeffrey Ronald Ivans, are seen in this photo from a Facebook memorial page set up after two Canadians were found shot to death in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sept. 27, 2009. (Facebook) | |
The likelihood that investigators will bring to justice the killers of two Canadian men slain in Mexico over the weekend is slim, says a journalist working in the region.
Gordon Douglas Kendall and Jeffrey Ronald Ivans were gunned down early Sunday morning in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
They were known to the RCMP's Integrated Gang Task Force, and Mexican police have suggested their deaths were the result of a targeted attack intended to "settle a score," said freelance journalist Ioan Grillo.
"It's a term they use to describe murders carried out by the Mexican criminal underworld, the organized crime gangs," Grillo told CTV's Canada AM from Mexico City.
"They're implying these men had upset one of the major drug trafficking organizations in Mexico."
Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the RCMP told The Canadian Press that police were "aware of them for some time now" and had reason to believe they were linked to illegal activities in France.
"We also knew of some of their recent activities in Mexico as well, centering around the drug trade," he said.
Grillo said there have been more than 4,000 murders - most linked to organized crime - in Mexico this year alone, marking the worst drug-related violence in the country's history.
Many of those murders share the same hallmarks of the Canadians' deaths - gunmen armed with high-powered weapons carrying out targeted executions of rivals or enemies.
"It is uncommon however to have Canadians or other foreigners involved in this kind of violence. It's almost exclusively between local Mexican gangs," Grillo said.
Because the victims were Canadians, it's possible that authorities will make an extra effort to find the killers. But it's unlikely there will be a resolution in the case, Grillo said.
"This year there have been more than 4,000 killings and only a tiny per cent of those killings have had anyone arrested for them. The clearance rate in Mexican homicides is terrible right now, less than 5 per cent, so there's a good 95 per cent chance they won't arrest the killers."
Eyewitness reports
Witnesses said a lone gunman approached the men near the building, shot Kendall and then chased and shot Ivans near the pool area.
Ivans was reportedly carrying a gun, but was not able to fire it.
Witnesses also told authorities two more gunmen arrived on the scene and repeatedly shot the Canadians.
RCMP said they didn't have any information affiliating Ivans or Kendall with a specific organized crime group.
Ivans was convicted of trafficking in B.C. in 2002, but was only fined.
B.C. Men Killed in Mexico Were Involved in Drug Trade, Police Confirm
Kim Bolan - Vancouver Sun
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September 29, 2009
Vancouver — Two B.C. men gunned down Sunday in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta were involved in the drug trade, likely as “brokers” facilitating the shipment of cocaine to Canada, a police expert said Monday.
Sgt. Bill Whelan, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), said investigators in B.C. were well aware that Gordon Douglas Kendall and Jeffrey Ronald Ivans were living in Mexico and had underworld connections.
The two former Kamloops residents were executed early Sunday in a targeted hit carried out by several well-armed men who fled in two vehicles.
Ivans also brandished a gun after the gunfire started, according to Mexican police, but did not get a shot off before taking several bullets to the head.
The gunmen pumped a second round of bullets into each of the Canadians as they lay on the ground, according to Mexican news reports.
Whelan said the names of both Kendall and Ivans had surfaced in an ongoing drug investigation in B.C., but Whelan is not linking them to a particular gang or criminal organization.
“Obviously, if you are going to be in Mexico and be taken out by Mexican cartels, you are working at a high level and you are probably not doing that by yourself,” Whelan said. “We knew what they were up to. We knew they were in Mexico.”
As brokers, they would have been the men on the ground in Mexico for B.C. drug traffickers wanting to get Colombian cocaine, Whelan explained.
“Like any legitimate company, if you have got a product overseas that you want and you are importing it a lot, you would usually send a company member over there to ensure swift purchase and swift shipment of the product you want,” he said. “They have come up during a drug investigation. We can’t talk about that right now, as it is an ongoing investigation.”
Graphic photos of the two lying in pools of blood beside a vehicle and a gun were displayed in the online publication Noticias Puerto Vallarta.
Ivans, who had a drug conviction in Kamloops, B.C., in 2002, is wearing a blood-streaked Hockey Hall of Fame T-shirt. Kendall is shirtless and wearing a pair of khaki shorts.
The execution of the two appeared to be the “settling of a score,” a Mexican embassy press attache in Ottawa said Monday
“Nevertheless, the appropriate Mexican authorities are conducting an investigation to shed light on the case,” Alberto Lozano said.
Ivans had a drug conviction in B.C.
A Canadian official on Monday confirmed that two Canadians had been murdered.
“What I can say at this point is that the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade confirms the death of two Canadian citizens in a shooting incident in Puerto Vallarta,” said department spokesman Alain Cacchione. “Consular officers at the Canadian missions in Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta are providing consular assistance and support to the families in Canada, and working closely with local authorities to gather additional information.”
Friends, who asked not to be named, told Canwest News Service the pair had been living in Mexico for about a year.
Whelan said police here believe they travelled back and forth regularly between the two countries.
He said it would be impossible for police to track all the movements of B.C. gang members and traffickers outside the country, but that Mexico has surfaced as a popular destination in certain CFSEU investigations — such as that involving the United Nations gang.
“There is a lot of cocaine coming from Colombia through Mexico, and the allure of the big money is there,” Whelan said. “So if you can cut middlemen out by having one of your guys down in Mexico, you save a lot of money and increase your profit.”
Several other B.C. residents — most with links to gangs — have been shot in Mexico over the last 14 months.
In July 2008, Eliott (Taco) Castaneda, an Abbotsford member of the United Nations gang, was shot to death in Guadalajara, along with fellow UN gangster Lou Ahmet, a former B.C. resident.
And in December 2008, Brendhan Stowe, 28, was shot in the leg and Nguyen Minh Trung Do, 26, was shot in the neck in a Cabo San Lucas strip club. Both men were known to B.C. police.
With files from Jorge Barrera, Canwest News Service
kbolan(at)vancouversun.com
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