'Very hard to keep moving forward ': No arrests, charges 4 years after Surrey father's murder
“I feel so bad for Paul. He deserved so much better.” Those are the words of Surrey widow Darlene Bennett, still grieving the murder of her husband four years ago in what police have said was a case of mistaken identity.
It was June 23, 2018 when Paul Bennett, the father of two young boys, was gunned down in the driveway of his home.
“We were there. The boys saw Paul. I did CPR on Paul,” said Darlene.
“The kids should still have him. They should still have their dad. They need him and he’s not there,” Darlene said, explaining that the horror of what happened is still emotionally crushing.
“My brain still will take me to that day and it’s very difficult to stop. And I wish it would.”
Paul Bennett, a nurse and volunteer hockey coach, was not the intended target on that tragic day.
“Why? I still can’t wrap my head around that, mistaken identity….You can take someone’s life and it’s not even the right person?” she said.
“It makes me very angry, and it makes me sad because I don’t want this to happen to other people and it does…No one needs to go through this. No one.”Paul and Darlene Bennett are shown in a family photo.
Video surveillance captured just before the shooting showed a car pull up and a dark figure run from the passenger side and then return a short time later. Police will not say if the car was ever located.
No one has ever been charged in the murder.
“I can only keep that hope that there’s answers one day,” Darlene said.
“It’s very hard to keep moving forward when you keep feeling like there’s something still waiting to hit you, like unfinished business and you just wonder when it’s going to drop,” she explained.
Darlene Bennett looks at a photo of her husband Paul who was killed in the driveway of their Surrey home in 2018. No one has been charged with the killing.
The Integrated Homicide Investigations Team declined an interview, saying it could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation.
“I understand that the public is looking for answers as is Darlene Bennett and her family/friends. There has been comparisons with the timelines on this file versus others. All I can say is that investigations are unique and timelines are not an indication of solvability or complexity,” wrote a spokesperson in an email.
Meanwhile, Darlene said she and her boys had to move from their family home as it was a constant reminder of the killing.
Paul Bennett is shown in an undated photo released by IHIT.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.