Armed men stormed a Range Rover pulling up to an upscale downtown Vancouver restaurant Saturday night, firing about six shots and killing two people in a crowded city street.
One of the dead was 37-year-old Ricardo Scarpino, a hitman-for-hire with a colourful past as a bounty hunter in California and a convicted cocaine trafficker in Vancouver Island, who was heading to his own engagement party.
The two black-clad gunmen fled across Seymour Street from in front of Gotham Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar, tossing a handgun in a church lot, and leaving Scarpino's fianc�e to cradle his head in her hands until police arrived, witnesses said.
"I've never seen anything like it - people gunned down on my back doorstep," said a woman who lived in the nearby Hudson residence, who would only give her first name, Charm.
Hearing that there was a shooting outside, members of the private party at Gotham tried to leave, but a semiautomatic handgun fell from one man's clothing and he was stopped and handcuffed. He was carrying a small amount of cocaine and will face charges, police said.
Investigators found two more guns - the murder weapons - at the Holy Rosary Cathedral, and cordoned off two sets of black gloves and a hat that appeared to have been left behind by the killers.
Cst. Tim Fanning told reporters that this was a targeted hit. "Scarpino is tied to a lot of other criminals," he said.
He wouldn't identify Scarpino's fianc�e, but said that she was in shock.
"She's very distraught, obviously. It's an absolutely impossible situation to have this happen when you're sitting in a car with your future husband," he said.
A police source told CTV's Lisa Rossington that a few months ago someone put a contract out on Scarpino, because he had ripped someone off.
Scarpino's criminal past
In 1993, Scarpino was the shooter in another brazen killing in a crowded public place when, working as a bounty hunter, he killed a 24-year-old man named Aum Trammell in a mall near Los Angeles during the pre-Christmas rush.
Scarpino and one associate had bulletproof vests on. Prosecutors only charged Scarpino with firearms offenses because he said Trammell was reaching for his gun and Scarpino fired in self-defense.
In 1998, Scarpino was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine into Canada. Police said he worked with a Colombian dealer named "Gustavo" and Scarpino acted as "the enforcer."
But those convictions were mysteriously overturned in 2001, with neither the prosecution nor the appeal court judges saying why. That meant that Scarpino could walk free.
Scarpino grew up in Langford, and lived in Nanaimo before moving to a house in West Vancouver, police said.
The crimes and the getaway was caught on videotape, according to the businesses in the area. Fanning said police had no suspects, but asked the public for any evidence that could help police catch the killers.
NDP leader says gun imports must be stopped
Federal NDP leader Jack Layton has called for a cross-border summit to look at the illegal import of guns into Canada, which many believe to be responsible for gangland shootings in this country.
In an interview with CTV Newsnet on Sunday, Layton pointed out the substantial investment currently made in airport security, with less attention given to illegal arms.
"We don't seem to be putting the same kind of investments into preventing weapons from coming across the border that are killing our citizens," he said.
Layton would also like to see more attention paid to prevention, suggesting government programs for young people to provide "positive alternatives" to a gang lifestyle.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
