Charges have now been laid against three men in connection with a kidnapping and double homicide investigation in East Vancouver.
Vancouver officers were called to a home on Dieppe Drive this weekend, where 24-year-old Xuan Vanvy Bacao and 29-year-old Samantha Le were found deceased. Their deaths are being treated as a murder. A four-year-old child was found terrified but unharmed in the home.
Those investigating the deaths quickly learned another person had been kidnapped.
That victim was rescued from a car Monday night during a dramatic takedown in New Westminster.
Three suspects were taken into custody at the scene, including a man who ran away from authorities while his hands were cuffed behind his back. He was caught a short distance away in the yard of a nearby home.
Shamil Amir Ali, Harinam Cox and Gopal Figueredo are charged with one count each of kidnapping without the use of a firearm, unlawful confinement, extortion and aggravated assault.
The trio is slated to make a court appearance Friday, and the VPD says it is still trying to track down additional suspects in relation to the murders and kidnapping.
The arrests of the three accused is now the subject of a police watchdog investigation, after an innocent man was bitten by a police canine unit dog in the incident.
Sgt. Brian Montague of the Vancouver Police Department apologized on behalf of the force Tuesday, saying they had to act quickly to recover the kidnapping suspects.
“We apologize that someone from the public had to get caught up in something like that," he said.
Montague said the VPD has reached out to the man who was bit to see if there's anything they can do to help him.
The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) said its probe will determine if "any officer committed an offence as a result of the injuries suffered by the man."
A female driver was also hurt when her car was struck during the take down, but the IIO says her injuries are not being investigated because they do not meet its criteria of serious harm.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Vancouver Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 604-717-2500, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
