VANCOUVER — Gang investigators in British Columbia say two men gunned down in Mexico were involved in the drug trade, and had been on the radar of gang investigators before they were found shot to death in a Puerto Vallarta condo complex.
Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the RCMP’s Integrated Gang Task Force said Monday that Gordon Douglas Kendall and Jeffrey Ronald Ivans, who were found shot to death in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, were known to police in British Columbia.
“We have been aware of them for some time now,” Kirk told The Canadian Press. “We also knew of some of their recent activities in Mexico as well, centring around the drug trade.”
Mexican police confirmed Monday that gunmen killed the two Canadian men.
Jalisco state prosecutor Guillermo Diaz said Kendall and Ivans were killed Sunday at the apartment building where they were staying.
Witnesses told police that a lone gunman approached the men outside the building and shot Kendall, then chased Ivans to the pool area and shot him. Diaz said Ivans was carrying a gun but was not able to use it.
Diaz said witnesses told police that two other gunmen then arrived and repeatedly shot the dead or dying Canadians.
Diaz said Monday that investigators have not determined a motive for the killing, and no arrests have been made.
But Kirk said the men’s activities were far-reaching.
“Certainly Mexico and the exporting of drugs from Mexico and into the United States and then from there at any point up into Canada or across the United States,” Kirk said.
At this point, he said police don’t have any information about whether Ivans and Kendall were affiliated with any specific gang or organized crime group.
“(But) if you’re going to get involved in this type of activity it’s not glamorous and violence is not that far behind.”
Ivans pleaded guilty in Kamloops on Dec. 13, 2002, to one charge of trafficking. He was fined 1,000 and victim surcharge of 150.00.
On a Facebook memorial page, friends lamented the loss of two men they remembered as witty, charming and nice. One also warned other friends not to go the Mexican news site, which featured graphic photos of the men lying in pools of blood.