Randy Naicker (right) with Hell’s Angel Larry Amero.
Photograph by: Handout photo , Vancouver Sun files
Naicker, a convicted kidnapper once targeted by killers at his Vancouver halfway house, was gunned down at about 4:45 p.m. near St. Johns and Queens streets.
Police confirmed Tuesday morning that Naicker was the victim of the fatal shooting.
Vancouver police have been called in to investigate the death, Port Moody's second gangland shooting in a month. Port Moody Police have an agreement with the larger VPD to conduct murder probes.
Witnesses described seeing a masked gunman shoot Naicker several times, then get into a vehicle and leave the scene - a parking area off a laneway and outside a Star-bucks restaurant.
VPD Const. Lindsey Houghton said the incident appeared to be "a targeted gang-related shooting."
"Members of the Port Moody Police and Coquitlam RCMP rushed to the chaotic scene where there had been dozens of people put in harm's way while in nearby businesses and commuting home in rush hour," Houghton said, asking anyone with information about the slaying to call 604-717-2500.
Starbucks Canada said staff members affected by the shooting are able to access counseling services.
The store opened as usual Tuesday morning.
Naicker, 35, had received death threats over the years. Within the last few months, he had been warned by the Gang Task Force that there were people who wanted him dead, according to sources.
While out on day parole in September 2009, Naicker was targeted by killers at his half-way house near Cambie Street and West 21st Avenue.
A worker at the residence had mistakenly written in a log-book that Naicker had gone out to the corner store. In fact, another house resident, Raj Soomel, had strolled down Cambie Street and was gunned down on his way back.
Police later revealed that Soomel had been killed in error by someone looking for Naicker, who had only been out of jail for five days.
Naicker's parole was revoked after Soomel's slaying, but he repeatedly told the Parole Board of Canada he did not believe he was in danger, or that he was the target of the 2009 plot.
"I just haven't had those kinds of headaches where some-one wants to assassinate you," Naicker told board members in a December 2009 hearing attended by The Sun. "The way that it happened, it seemed like it was a targeted incident."
The Sun has learned that the 2009 attack is believed to have been plotted by the United Nations gang against Naicker because two of Naicker's under-lings assaulted a UN member in prison.
Naicker told the parole board he was not a gangster, though some of his old friends were. He admitted he founded the Independent Soldiers, but claimed it was only a clothing line and that he was a businessman.
And Naicker told the parole board that The Sun had caused all his problems by running a photograph of himself and full-patch Hells Angel Larry Amero at a Kelowna party. Both sported their respective gang tattoos on their chest.
Amero was seriously wounded in the Kelowna shooting last August in which Jonathan Bacon was killed. Since then, police have warned of increasing tensions between two rival groups - one dubbed the Dhak-Duhre-UN group and the other some Hells Angels, the Independent Soldiers and Bacon's Red Scorpions.
Less than a month ago, Gurbinder (Bin) Toor, a Duhre associate, was shot to death outside the Port Moody Recreation Centre.
Naicker had known the Bacons for years. While out on bail for his 2005 gang kid-napping charges, Naicker was caught by police with Jamie Bacon and others associated with both gangs at Abbotsford's Castle Fun Park.
Naicker was believed to be living in Burnaby, although he owned a Surrey condo purchased for almost $500,000 while he was still in prison.
He was convicted of the 2005 kidnapping and unlawful confinement in Surrey of a gangster after $400,000 worth of pot went missing and two gang-land associates were murdered. He was sentenced to five years.
At the time of his statutory release a year ago, the parole board imposed special conditions because of the belief he was a marked man. Naicker had to tell his parole supervisor of anyone living with him so that person could be fully informed of the "harmful potential associated with being in close proximity to you."
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