Sentencing underway in 2018 double murder that left innocent teen dead

Family of a teenager who was killed when he was caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting on a Vancouver street delivered gut-wrenching impact statements.

Sentencing is underway for a man convicted in the double murder on Vancouver’s Broadway that left an innocent teen dead in January 2018.

Kane Carter, 30, was convicted by a B.C. Supreme Court jury of two counts of second-degree murder in the fatal shootings of 15-year-old Alfred Wong and 23-year-old Kevin Whiteside.

Carter was tried on the same charges in 2024, but the case ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

During the retrial, Crown counsel told the court Carter shot at Whiteside after Whiteside opened fire on Matthew Navas-Rivas, who prosecutors said was linked to Carter in a drug-trafficking operation. Wong, who was in the backseat of his parents’ car, was struck once in the chest and died in hospital days later.

In an emotional victim impact statement, Wong’s mother, Chelle Che, said:

“It is every mother’s nightmare to see her child killed before her eyes. There were no last words, no goodbyes, and there has been no closure.”

“I am still haunted by our last moments in the car. I wonder: Did he know that was our last sight of each other? Did he know he would never wake up again? He was so unprepared. It breaks my heart to think of him on that unknown journey all by himself. He was only 15.”

Crown prosecutors said they believe Carter was there to protect Navas-Rivas, who escaped Whiteside’s gunfire that night but was shot dead in East Vancouver months later.

Carter, an Ontario resident, admitted he flew from Hamilton, Ont., to Abbotsford in October 2017 and began renting a condo under his younger brother’s name the following month.

He also admitted he flew back to Ontario one week after the shootings.

The second-degree murder convictions carry an automatic life sentence. The court must now decide how long Carter will remain behind bars before becoming eligible to apply for parole.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, parole eligibility for second-degree murder ranges from 10 to 25 years.

Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard told the court the Crown believes Carter’s parole eligibility should be set at 20 years.

Montrichard highlighted Carter’s multiple firearms convictions in Ontario from both before and after the Vancouver homicides, and said Carter repeatedly breached court-ordered conditions, including firearm prohibitions.

“Mr. Carter has shown himself that he’s a danger to the public, and a person whom society must be protected from,” said Montrichard.

He said the prospects for rehabilitation appear to be very low.

Defence submissions began briefly Tuesday afternoon. Carter’s lawyer Andrew Nelson argued his client should be eligible to apply for parole after 12 years. He said Whiteside was the catalyst for the events that unfolded that night.

Nelson also raised concerns about Carter’s arrest by the Vancouver Police Department in March 2022 as he walked out of a federal prison in Ontario after being granted statutory release on a firearms offence.

He said the police investigation had wrapped up in 2019 with Carter identified as the prime suspect, adding the VPD had informed the Parole Board of Canada that Carter was a suspect in the double murder.

Nelson argued that by waiting until Carter’s release from prison to charge him in the killings, investigators denied him the opportunity to receive credit for time served while also serving his federal sentence.

Nelson is expected to continue his submissions Wednesday.