Suspect charged with 2nd-degree murder 2 years after Vancouver shooting

From 2023: Police in Vancouver are investigating a homicide in the Downtown Eastside on Tuesday.

A 67-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder more than two years after his alleged victim was found dead in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Jorge Marquez Medina has been charged in connection to the Jan. 17, 2023, shooting of 20-year-old Thunder Dennis inside the West Hotel at Carrall and East Hastings streets.

The Vancouver Police Department announced the charges Tuesday, just days after the second anniversary of the shooting.

Police were called to the SRO building just before 7 a.m. on the day of the shooting. At the time, the VPD said only that it was investigating an apparent homicide, and that there was no ongoing risk to the public.

Roughly a month after the incident, police identified Dennis as the victim, but made no mention of how he had died.

Medina was arrested on Monday after a two-year investigation led by homicide investigators from the VPD’s Major Crime Section, police said.

He remains in custody. Online court records indicate he was scheduled to make his next appearance Tuesday afternoon.