The young Canadian man shot dead by U.S. border agents last week was wanted in the shocking murder of a Calgary teenager whose body was found burned two weeks ago.
Jamison Childress, a 20-year-old from Prince George, B.C., slipped across the border into Washington state near the Sumas crossing on Thursday, set off a sensor, and allegedly tried to spray agents with an unknown chemical before he was fatally shot.
The same day, Mounties in Alberta were trying to secure a warrant for his arrest.
“We were investigating Mr. Childress for a charge of first-degree murder,” Const. Jason Curtis confirmed Sunday.
The RCMP said Childress was among four people wanted in the slaying of 18-year-old Brando Walker, whose partially burned body was discovered in a wooded area of the Tsuu T’ina First Nation reserve outside Calgary on March 7.
The other three suspects have been arrested.
Mounties haven’t confirmed what relationship there was between Childress and the victim, if any, but their mutual friends said they knew each other from when Childress lived in Calgary between 2010 and 2013.
"I wouldn't call them friends, but they did hang out quite a few times," Rowan Evans said, adding that Childress was not a “good guy.”
“He was the type that would get into drugs and he was a violent guy," she said. "He got himself into trouble quite a few times."
Beyond being a suspect in the Calgary murder, Childress was facing mischief and assault charges in B.C.
Mounties won’t say when he fled Calgary for B.C., or why he wasn’t arrested sooner. They admitted the murder investigation has been difficult, with three others facing charges and more than 100 people interviewed by police.
“It has been a very complex investigation and it still is,” Curtis said.
Cheyenne Lalonde says she was one of Walker's close friends, and saw him just two days before he went missing. She said there was a frustrating lack of information in the early days of the probe.
"Now that we have a more clear picture, our grieving process has started for a lot of his family and friends, especially now that these men have been arrested," Lalonde said.
"We're going to get justice for Brando, and it's coming sooner and sooner.”
Several individuals on social media have linked Childress to Walker's death in posts using the hashtag #JusticeforBrando.
The other people arrested and charged in connection with Walker’s death are Chad William Gosselin, 21, Dylan Steven Cameron, 20, and a 15-year-old boy.
Cameron and Gosselin, both Calgary residents, have been charged with manslaughter and accessory to murder, respectively. The boy, whose name can’t be released due to his age, has been accused of second-degree murder.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Roberts
