Guilty verdict in brazen 2020 shooting in Richmond, B.C., that killed Jian Jun Zhu

The outside of the Manzo restaurant in Richmond, B.C., is pictured following a shooting in September 2020. (IHIT)

Nearly four years after a brazen shooting at a Richmond, B.C., restaurant that left 44-year-old Jian Jun Zhu dead, the accused gunman has been convicted of murder.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk found Richard Charles Reed guilty of first-degree murder, reckless discharge of a firearm, and possession of a prohibited firearm on Wednesday, according to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Reed will be sentenced at a yet-unscheduled hearing.

"This outcome is a testament to our commitment to justice and to our investigations," Cpl. Chase Smith of IHIT said in a news release Thursday.

The shooting was reported on the evening of Sept. 18, 2020 at Manzo Restaurant. Two men were injured, including Zhu, who was known to police.

He died in hospital the next day.

Investigators never publicly spoke to a possible motive in the shooting, but said the incident was not connected to the Lower Mainland's bloody gang conflict.

The other victim was Paul Jin, who was the subject of a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in March 2019, which accused him of using the proceeds of crime to buy a Richmond building that houses a mixed martial arts gym called World Champion Club.

Zhu was accused in civil forfeiture documents of laundering hundreds of million of dollars through a Richmond company in a scheme involving B.C. casinos.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ben Nesbit