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And It Begins: 3 Gangland slayings in 24 hours in Metro Vancouver

by Barry Artiste | February 4, 2009 at 03:50 am

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Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Anyone following the Crime Beat. Like who really didn't see this one coming?

It'll be getting worse before it gets any better as a rash of killings in 24 hours seem to be related.

Three slayings in 24 hours for Metro Vancouver
Victim in second fatal shooting rented Surrey penthouse where six were murdered in 2007

By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
February 4, 2009 1:00 AM

METRO VANCOUVER — A man gunned down in the parking lot of Guildford Town Centre Tuesday was the same person who rented the Surrey penthouse where six people were brutally murdered in October 2007, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Raphael Baldini had appeared in Vancouver Provincial Court earlier Tuesday on assault and uttering threats charges laid in October 2008.

He was also facing a series of gun charges filed against him in November 2007, just weeks after six people — including innocent bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg — were shot execution-style in suite 1505 of the Balmoral Tower, which Baldini had been renting.

The 21-year-old Baldini was sprayed with gunfire in the parking lot of the busy Surrey mall about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday — the second of three targeted hits in Metro Vancouver in less than 24 hours.