One year after 34-year-old Chris Whitmee was gunned down in a Cloverdale, B.C., strip club, Surrey RCMP now believe he was not the intended target and is asking for help from the public.
Investigators feel the target may have been someone connected to drugs and gangs and are asking the community for any additional information on the 2009 murder.
"Oftentimes people don't approach police in the first instance after a serious crime like homicide," said RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr of B.C.'s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. "We have experienced that when we make a plea to the public it triggers something that causes people to have a change of heart and they decide to come forward to police."
Whitmee and another victim were shot at the Legacy Showroom at 5708-176th Street in Surrey around 11:00 p.m. on May 16, 2009. Whitmee died as he was being transported to hospital.
An unidentified man was seen leaving through a back door of the strip club right after the shooting. The man, who is described as being in his early twenties and wearing a dark-hooded jacket, was last seen running northeast in the alley behind the lounge.
Investigators are also looking into a hit-and-run accident that took place nearby. Shortly after the shooting, a vehicle turning left at the intersection of 176 Street and Highway 10 was clipped from behind by another vehicle, which kept traveling west along Highway 10. The suspect car is described as a small, dark-coloured, two-door vehicle.
Whitmee's half-sister Rachel Goodine has said from the beginning that Whitmee was an innocent victim.
"This isn't supposed to happen," Goodine told CTV News after the incident. "This is needless. I knew that this was going to happen again, but I didn't know my brother would be the innocent bystander. I just didn't know it would be him."
Whitmee, who had been put up for adoption at a young age, left behind a nine-year-old daughter, Lexus.
"He was the best dad I could ever hope for," said Lexus last year. "I still feel like he could walk through those doors right now."
Anyone with information is asked to call the IHIT TIP Line at 1-877-551-IHIT or CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-222-TIPS.
