Follow this link to read more about the CBC investigation into Justin Bone’s interaction with law enforcement.
The mayor of Edmonton is urging Alberta’s attorney general and the city’s police commission to review the police’s actions in the days before two men were beaten to death in the Chinatown neighborhood.
Amardjit Sohi’s calls for the two examinations came on Friday after an investigation by CBC News revealed that Alberta’s RCMP had released an offender in the city, three days before he was arrested in the beating death.
Defendant Justin Bone was left in West Edmonton on May 15 by Parkland RCMP officers who had taken him to Alberta Beach, although bail conditions barred him from being in Edmonton unsupervised.
Edmonton police officers spoke to Bone the same day he was left in Edmonton by the RCMP. City police have not detained Bone because “no crime has been identified,” EPS said.
Bone has now been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the May 18 killings of 64-year-old Hung Trang and 61-year-old Ban Fook Hoang.
Sohi described the issue Friday as a failure of the judiciary and police in Alberta. He said he and his city council colleagues were devastated when they learned of the events.
“I urge the Advocate General to conduct a comprehensive review to get to the bottom of this situation and to help fill in the gaps in the system to ensure that this never happens again,” Sohi said in a statement.
“I also urge the Attorney General to immediately stop the practice of allowing people in penitentiaries to be released without a home without a support plan.
“This situation was not a one-off or a mistake – we heard this from community members over and over again. People are left in our community to social services without any plan or accountability. “
Sohi said he wanted the Edmonton Police Commission to “conduct an in-depth investigation into what led to this failure to keep Edmonton residents safe and whether it reflected any systematic practices.”
Justin Bone, 36, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder. (Justin Bone / Facebook)
Sohi said the details of the case were devastating and demonstrated a “worrying lack of coordination” in the correctional system.
“It also demonstrates that Edmonton is a service center for northern and central Alberta, and our system is out of capacity and unable to cope with the help of people who desperately need it,” he said.
“The RCMP put this guy in a system they knew was already over capacity, and they left him there. That’s not right.”
Alberta’s RCMP said Thursday it has begun reviewing a code of conduct for its employees.
In a further statement on Friday, the RCMP provided more details.
“The review will look at the decisions made by employees; current operational policies and procedures that guide decisions such as these; any gaps in support systems; and how we coordinate our responses with partner agencies when there are many social and judicial factors involved, ”the statement said.
“Alberta’s RCMP is aware that not all questions that police officers answer require only a police response. Dynamic and complex service calls, often involving mental health, addictions and re-imprisonment, require coordinated, multidisciplinary responses that can better address these social problems. “
Ban Fook Hoang, 61, is a longtime resident of Edmonton’s Chinatown, where he owns and operates an electronics store. (Sent by the Hoang family)
Trang was beaten at a car repair shop on 98th Street; Hoang was attacked in his electronics store on the same street.
The killings have outraged high crime rates in the Chinatown, which has been battling riots for years.
Jolie Hoang, Hoang’s daughter, said she felt betrayed by both the RCMP and the EPS.
“I feel helpless. I feel so defeated,” she said in an interview. “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
Hoang said he could not understand why police did not detain Bone. Responding RCMP officials failed to fulfill their obligation to protect the public, she said.
“As an officer, you have to serve and defend,” she said through tears.
“Very, very high price”
Christina Trang, Hung Trang’s eldest daughter, reiterated these calls. She said her family is already struggling with the pointless way her father died.
Learning about Bone’s interactions with police in the days before the killings added deep disappointment to the grief, she said.
She asks why Bone was released without consequences for his alleged threats. She wants answers from the RCMP and the city police and clarity on police protocols for the release of parolees.
“For the RCMP to just leave it in Edmonton, where it shouldn’t have been, it’s a complete distrust of the judiciary,” she said.
Hung Trang, 64, has worked at a car repair shop in Chinatown for more than 30 years and plans to retire later this year. (Submitted by Christina Trang)
The RCMP said on May 15 that Parkland officers responded to a complaint that Bone was threatening a home in Alberta Beach, where he was staying after his release in late April from the Edmonton Detention Center.
Under the terms of his release on bail, Bone was ordered to live in the house in Alberta Beach while waiting for a bed in a medical facility in Edmonton.
But on May 15, Bone allegedly threatened the man he was staying with, prompting the homeowner to tell police he wanted Bone to leave the house.
Officials found that the situation did not meet the threshold for charges, Parkland RCMP Insp. Mike Locke said in a statement to CBC News on Thursday.
The RCMP tried unsuccessfully to contact Bone’s probation officer. RCMP staff then took Bone to West Edmonton and left him unattended, expecting him to gain access to services in the area.
Three days later, he was arrested near the murder scene in Chinatown.
The RCMP contacted the Director of Law Enforcement on 7 June. The director decided that the issue did not meet the threshold for an external review, as stated in the Alberta Police Act.
In a statement Friday, a spokesman for Justice and the Attorney General of Alberta said that while release decisions are made by courts, correctional officers work with inmates before their release to ensure they are accommodated and supported.
While correctional staff cannot force a prisoner to participate in or contribute to the release planning process, every effort is made by both correctional staff and partner public agencies to ensure that the prisoner does not to be released on the street, “the statement said. .
Days before Hung Trang and Ban Fuq Hoang were fatally beaten in Edmonton’s Chinatown, Justin Bone – now charged with both murders – was left in the city by RCMP officials. (Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi / CBC)
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