A Surrey man has received a life sentence for killing a Surrey gangster and an innocent Abbotsford man in 2017 and 2018, as well as the attempted murder of two others.
Tyrel Nguyen (also known by the surname Quesnelle), 24, was sentenced Thursday (Jan. 11) in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Nguyen was convicted on Nov. 27 of the first-degree murders of Randy Kang, 27, of Surrey on Oct. 27, 2017 and Jagvir Malhi, 19, of Abbotsford on Nov. 12, 2018.
Nguyen was also convicted of the attempted murders of Kang’s brother Gary and the Kangs’ associate, Camilo Alonso, also on Oct. 27, 2017.
Although first-degree (premeditated) murder results in an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years, the sentencing hearing was held to enable victim-impact statements to be submitted in court.
Justice Miriam Gropper also ruled that the two life sentences for the murders will be served concurrently.
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Much of the Crown’s case was based on the testimony of a police agent, whose name is protected under a publication ban and who was referred to by the initials AB.
AB and Nguyen met as teenagers and later worked together in the drug trade. The court heart that, after AB decided to leave the gang world, he became a police informant in October 2019.
The two killings were pieced together through the evidence gathered by AB and by investigators.
The court heard that Nguyen was a member of the Brothers’ Keepers gang, which was headed by Gavin Grewal, who was killed in North Vancouver in December 2017. Their rivals were the Red Scorpions, led by Jamie Bacon.
AB was selling drugs for Rohit Kumar, and Nguyen was the manager, the court was told.
The Kang killing resulted after Nguyen and Kumar arranged a meeting with the two Kang brothers and Alonso, who were Red Scorpions associates.
The five men met on a pathway on Alpen Place in Surrey, and Nguyen and Kumar opened fire, the court heard.
Randy Kang was killed, and an autopsy later showed he had received about 40 injuries from 13 bullets.
Gary Kang was shot but survived – he was later gunned down in South Surrey in January 2021 – and Alonso hid in some bushes and was unscathed.
AB testified that Nguyen had told him that he and Kumar had been paid $100,000 for the hit.
Rented and stolen vehicles and stolen licence plates were linked to the Kang murder, and CCTV footage from Kumar’s condo building provided additional evidence of the links.
More than a year later, Malhi was killed as he was driving north on Ross Road in Abbotsford on the way to University of the Fraser Valley, where he was a student.
He was rear-ended by a vehicle and, when he got out of his car, he was gunned down. An autopsy showed that he had suffered 40 injuries from eight bullets.
The investigation determined that Malhi had been the “unintended victim” and that his brother had been the target.
Evidence in court showed that a tracking device had been placed on Malhi’s car in the days leading up to his killing. CCTV footage showed that an Acura TL passed the Malhi residence 34 times – including eight times on the day he was killed – over a five-day period.
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The Acura was set on fire in Surrey, but a neighbour quickly extinguished the blaze. This resulted in valuable DNA evidence being preserved, including the Smith & Wesson gun that matched the bullets used in the murder, a balaclava that had Nguyen’s DNA on it, fingerprints that matched Nguyen’s on the truck, and a pair of gloves in the driver’s side door that also had his DNA.
AB testified that he was present when Nguyen and another man, Joseph Whitlock, talked about how Whitlock’s gun – a Glock 17 – had jammed at the murder scene. Whitlock’s DNA was also found on gloves in the Acura.
AB also testified that he was present when Nguyen and Whitlock picked up and divided the $30,000 they were paid for the killing.