Three days before two men were fatally beaten last month in Edmonton’s Chinatown, a man now charged with both murders was left in town by RCMP officials, CBC News has learned.
RCMP officials from the Parkland Squad left Justin Bone in West Edmonton on May 15, although bail conditions barred him from being in Edmonton unattended.
Edmonton police officers spoke to Bone later that day, but did not detain him because “no crime was observed,” EPS said in a statement on Thursday.
Bone, 36, was arrested on May 18 in the murders of 64-year-old Hung Trang and 61-year-old Ban Fuq Hoang.
He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Trang was beaten at a garage and Hoang was attacked in his electronics store on the same street.
The killings have outraged Chinatown’s high crime rate and sparked calls for a halt to the release of offenders at Edmonton’s core.
In late May, citing the killings, Alberta Justice Secretary Tyler Shandro used his power under the Police Act to demand a report from the city of Edmonton on what was being done to curb crime in the city center.
On Thursday, Mayor Amarjit Sohi outlined a comprehensive security plan. Sohi said the city plans to urge the government to stop letting offenders from provincial penitentiaries into the streets of Edmonton.
“Starlight Reversing”
Now, a family friend who has housed Bone in Alberta Beach, 70 kilometers northwest of Edmonton, accuses the RCMP and Edmonton police of ignoring his warnings about the danger Bone could pose to public safety.
“It’s like reversing,” the man said in an interview, referring to a widely condemned police practice that came to light in Saskatchewan years ago, in which officers picked up indigenous people and left them in remote rural areas.
“You left them in the middle of the city and made sure it was Edmonton’s problem.”
The CBC agreed not to identify the man. According to the court order, Bone lived with him while he was on bail.
Court documents show that Bone, a recidivist, was released from the Edmonton Detention Center on April 26, 22 days before the killings.
Accused of burglary and entry, he received bail under strict conditions, including curfew and a gun ban. He was forbidden to use or possess drugs or alcohol.
He was ordered to attend a 90-day treatment program in Edmonton and live in Alberta Beach when he was not receiving treatment.
Bail conditions barred Bone from being in Edmonton except to attend court, meet with a lawyer, have medical appointments or be in the company of a family friend from Alberta Beach, unless approved in advance by his bailiff.
The RCMP said on May 15, Parkland officials responded to a complaint that Bone was making threats at his home in Alberta Beach. The owner told police he wanted Bone to leave the house.
After consulting with the squad’s domestic violence coordinator, officers found that the situation did not meet the charge threshold, Parkland RCMP Insp. Mike Locke said in a statement to CBC News on Thursday.
The RCMP tried to contact Bone’s probation officer to discuss “alternative arrangements,” but was unable to contact the probation officer, the statement said.
RCMP officers took Bone to town and left him unattended.
“The staff, after consulting with their boss, decided that the best course of action was to take Mr Bone to an area where support and services were available to him, and he was left near a social services center in the west. end of Edmonton so that he can easily access these services, “Loken said in a statement.
Loken said officers had informed Edmonton police about their actions.
In a separate statement Thursday, an EPS spokesman said city police officers spoke to Bone that day after someone called them about him.
“Officers have judged how he ended up in Edmonton, and since no crime has been reported, officials cannot legally detain him,” the statement said.
“He was advised to keep the balance of the conditions imposed on him and to discuss any changes with his probation officer.
The RCMP reached Bone’s probation officer the next day, May 16th. “Officers have been able to confirm that communication has taken place between Mr Bone and his probation officer and that Mr Bone is working with his probation officer to get the support he needs,” the RCMP said in a statement.
Three days later, Bone was arrested shortly after the killings of Trang and Hoang.
The RCMP said a revision of the Code of Conduct for Employees was ordered on Monday this week.
The RCMP also said it had notified the director of Alberta’s law enforcement agencies on Tuesday, who decided that the review should remain at the Alberta RCMP.
The homeowner in Alberta Beach said Bone was unstable and deluded and should never have been released in Edmonton without support or a place to stay.
“I told the RCMP, I told the Edmonton City Police that he was free, that he was mentally ill, that he was melting down and that there was a problem and he should be detained,” he said.
“Three different subjects in the judiciary. All three failed not only me but Justin himself. And those two innocent people who died.”
Through his lawyer, Bone declined to comment on the case or say why he was in Chinatown on the day of his arrest.
The man from Alberta Beach said he felt obliged to help Bone. He was a roommate of Bone’s late uncle and has known the family for decades.
Justin Bone, 36, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder. (Justin Bone / Facebook)
Bone needed a place to stay while he waited for a bed at the recovery center he was ordered to visit.
The facility, which faces lagging behind patients, does not currently accept direct transfers from correctional facilities.
But the situation soon became unstable. The man said Bone was struggling with his addictions and a change in his medication.
Bone starts abusing drugs and alcohol and asking for money.
The owner said that on May 15, Bone threatened him after asking for money and not receiving it.
The man knew there was an RCMP stop nearby. He drove there to ask the staff for help.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” he told the CBC.
Later that day, the man went to the Parkland RCMP squad to ask where Bone was. He also asked for a restraining order, he said.
He said the arresting police officer told him that Bone had been left in the city.
“I said, ‘Thank you very much, I have to live in fear now,'” the man said. He just shook his head.
The man said that within hours of talking to the RCMP in the squad, Bone called him asking to be picked up from Edmonton center.
He then said he called Edmonton police, telling a police officer that Bone was in town and providing details of his whereabouts in the hope that he would be detained.
He said an EPS official had told him that Bone was not breaking any rules because the RCMP had left him in town.
He said he made a similar call to Bone’s probation officer on May 16. CBC News spoke with the probation officer, but she declined to comment. Alberta Justice did not answer questions about the case from CBC News.
The man has since issued a restraining order against Bone. He said he remained haunted by the killings.
Bone remains in custody awaiting his next trial date on June 17.
Court documents show he has a long criminal record, with convictions dating back to 2005.
The documents depict a man with a cruel and deeply troubled personal history who has spent most of his adult life in and out of prison. His previous convictions include sexual interference, criminal mischief and assault.
In 2018, Bone was convicted on two counts of sexual intercourse involving a juvenile for crimes dating from January 2012 to December 2014.
A troubled past
A Gladue report related to the sentence shows that Bone had a troubled upbringing. Gladue reports explain to the courts the family and history of the indigenous community.
The report describes how Bone, a native of Lac La Bish, Alta, has been a victim of domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse throughout his childhood. His family, members of the Papaschase First Nation, are battling substance abuse and homelessness.
The family has moved frequently, ostensibly to avoid detection by child protection authorities, the report said. Bone spends much of his teenage years in group homes.
He drank his first drink at the age of six and regularly used marijuana and alcohol at the age of 14. He later developed a methamphetamine addiction, according to a Gladue report.
The man who provided Bone with a place to live in Alberta Beach said Bone needed mental health intervention years ago, but continued to slip through the cracks.
“Years ago, there should have been a mental health bed, not a prison cell,” the man said.
“There’s nothing more I can do for him. He’s not the same person I knew.”
The killings sparked outrage at the high crime rate in Chinatown and sparked calls to halt the release of violators in Edmonton’s core. (Nathan Gross / CBC)
Trang’s daughter, Christina Trang, said Thursday that she was sick of learning about Bone’s interactions with police.
She said she could not understand why he was left in the city. She said the RCMP and police had violated public confidence.
“Many people have to answer for their actions,” she said. “This whole situation could have been prevented and the price I have to pay for my family is too high.”
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