Police seek driver who drove two people away from the scene of targeted killings
almost 5 years in timescolonist
Major crime officers investigating after three people were found dead in a gravel pit near Whiskey Creek say two individuals may have flagged down a car and gotten a ride away from the scene.
The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit has finished gathering physical evidence and completed its forensic investigation of a gravel pit where three bodies were found Sunday.
Two of the bodies were in a burned travel trailer and the third was nearby. A man with gunshot wounds was found in a second trailer.
On Friday, police revealed that two people may have flagged down a motorist driving a light coloured sedan on Highway 19 early Sunday.
“The driver who picked up these individuals is being asked to reach out to police,” said B.C. RCMP spokesman Cpl. Chris Manseau. “They unknowingly may have information crucial to this investigation.”
The gravel pit is a popular area for quad bikers, dirt bike riders and 4x4 riders, so investigators are asking anyone who was in the area on Saturday evening or Sunday to share any video footage they have. Police are hoping it could help their investigation.
RCMP said Monday that they believe individuals connected to the crime are at large. They said the killings appear targeted and the public is not at risk.
Two people living in one of two trailers at the site haven’t been seen and are believed to be dead.
Several sources told the Times Colonist that one of the victims of the killings is believed to be Shawn McGrath, a 52-year-old with an extensive criminal record. His girlfriend, Shanda Wilson, had been living with him in the trailer.
Kelly Morris, a peer-support worker based in Qualicum Beach, said she helped McGrath set up his trailer in the gravel pit at the end of Melrose Forest Service Road about 18 months ago. He had just finished a jail sentence and told her he had nowhere else to go.
Neither RCMP nor the B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed the identities of the dead. Police have said forensic identification must take place, since two of the victims were found in the charred trailer. Police have not given a update on the status of the man taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.
Anyone with information relating to the investigation is asked to call the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit information line at 250-380-6211.
kderosa@timescolonist.com
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