The number of homicides so far this year in Abbotsford-Mission has reached the amount that saw the area dubbed the Murder Capital of Canada in 2008 and 2009.
There have so far been 10 killings – eight in Abbotsford – for the area that is combined each year as one of the “census metropolitan areas” (CMAs) in Statistics Canada homicide stats.
Abbotsford-Mission was named the murder capital in 2008, when it recorded 10 homicides, resulting in it having the highest number of killings per 100,000 population among the 33 Canadian CMAs recorded.
The area also topped the homicides stats in 2009, when it had nine murders, and placed second – after Thunder Bay, Ont. – in 2017, also for 10 killings.
RELATED: Abbotsford-Mission region records 10 murders in 2017
Most of the murders in 2008 and 2009 were attributed to the drug war between the Red Scorpions and UN Gang.
But initiatives focused on preventing gang violence, combined with the arrests or deaths of several key gangsters, resulted in a drop in the homicide numbers in the ensuing years.
The Lower Mainland gang conflict resulted in a new spate of killings in later years, resulting in the 2017 numbers for Abbotsford-Mission.
RELATED: Overall crime rate drops in Abbotsford-Mission, but murder rate rises
The following year saw seven killings in the area, followed by one in 2019, three in 2020 and four in 2021.
Although the numbers have climbed in 2022, most – if not all – do not appear to have gang connections.
Charges have been laid in only one of the homicides.
The year so far:
ABBOTSFORD
• Jan . 8 – Ryan Lajeunesse, 41, killed in a park at Peardonville and Clearbrook
• Feb. 15 – Cody Corbett, 30, stabbed in Inspiration Park
• March 21 – Chad Colivas, 41, shot at a home on Latimer Street
• May 8/9 – Arnie and Joanne De Jong, 77 and 76 respectively, found dead in their home on Arcadian Way on the morning of May 9
• May 25 – man, 41, dies after assault outside Sevenoaks Shopping Centre
• July 28 – Kamaljit Sandhu, 45, killed in a home on Eastview Street; her husband, Inderjit Sandhu, was charged with first-degree murder
• Sept. 1 – Tyler Wiebe, 32, stabbed at the Balsam Apartments on McCallum Road
RELATED: Online fundraiser started for family of Abbotsford murder victim
MISSION
• Feb. 1 – remains of Codi Carlyle Rogers, 40, found in Cascade Falls Regional Park
• Aug. 22 – David Leggat, 26, stabbed in 7200 block of Park Street; three people were arrested, but no charges have yet been laid
RELATED: Mission woman identified as homicide victim at Cascade Falls Regional Park
vhopes@abbynews.com
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