About 50 friends of a murdered Surrey teen cleaned up a park near Frank Hurt Secondary in his honour this weekend.
The heavily wooded area near 138 Street and 77 Avenue is where five Indo-Canadian male suspects made their getaway after stabbing 19-year-old Devon Allaire-Bell to death on the evening of April 24.
No one has yet been charged.
Devon’s father Wayne Bell has been sharing his grief with his friend and Coast Mountain Bus Company co-worker Gord Fletcher.
Fletcher began discussing the idea of naming the wooded area after Allaire-Bell, something he says is now in the works.
In the meantime, a group of people close to Allaire-Bell and his family descended on the wooded area Saturday morning to clean it up. Neighbours say prostitutes frequent the densely treed park at night, as do drug addicts and homeless people.
Fletcher visited the area with representatives from the City of Surrey parks department earlier this year to examine whether there was a problem.
“Just that day, when we went in there, we found no less than 38 beer cans, srynges... condoms, clothing was everywhere, trees were bent over into cots,” Fletcher said.
He points out students from Frank Hurt Secondary walk through the park every lunch hour.
“It’s a big deal to us, we want to get this thing cleaned up,” Fletcher said.
The five suspects in Allaire-Bell’s murder were caught leaving the scene on video surveillance. One male in his 20s is dressed in light-coloured clothing with large distinctive writing on the back of his shirt. He is also wearing a white and black ball cap.
Another of the suspects has a unique, marine-style haircut, with the sides and back shaved and only a small amount of hair on top.
If you have any information you are asked to contact the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team tipline at 1-877-551-IHIT(4448). Or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
kdiakiw@surreyleader.com