A man Vancouver police tagged as the target of a gang-style hit was innocent and apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time when gunmen shot him dead. Raj Soomel, who was convicted of plotting to kill a witness, was murdered in the intersection of 19th Avenue and Cambie Street Sept. 29 on a night where 60 to 70 other people in the neighbourhood surrounded him.
Investigators have concluded Soomel’s roommate, who was at a halfway house blocks away, was the gunmen’s intended target. Investigators have warned the man that the spray of bullets, which fell Soomel that night, was intended for him.
The man is now in jail. To preserve the integrity of the investigation, police can’t reveal where the hitmen’s intended target was. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 604-717-2500.
