MURDER AT COQUITLAM GROW OP

Neighbours of a man fatally shot during an apparent "grow-rip" at his
Coquitlam home on B.C. Day say they never suspected he was farming pot.

Residents in the 1100-block of Charland Avenue told The Tri-City News
yesterday the man they called "Ryan" was a friendly person who lived alone
with his three dogs.

"He was such a nice fellow," one neighbour said. "My grandson used to go
over to see his dogs and I would wave to him in the morning... It was such
a shock to hear what happened.

Another neighbour said he'd seen no suspicious activity or extra traffic
since the man moved in about three years ago.

A few years back, after there were some attempted break-ins in the
sub-division, located off Marmont Street, the neighbour said he and the
victim put up fencing to guard their yards.

But that neighbour said crime hasn't been a problem recently as new homes
are being built on the street.

The 51-year-old dead man - whom police have yet to identify - lived in an
older, well-tended grey rancher. He told neighbours he worked dealing with
fire-retardant materials.

Coquitlam RCMP were called to the area at 8:29 a.m. Monday after receiving
an anonymous report of a gun being fired, said Cpl. Pierre Lemaitre of
Burnaby RCMP.

Officers interviewed residents about the gunshots but when they knocked on
the door to 1111 Charland Ave., dispatchers called them to say the resident
had just phoned for an ambulance.

Inside, police found the wounded man and rushed him to Royal Columbian
Hospital in New Westminster, where he later died Police also found about
200 pot plants in the basement.

Lemaitre said investigators believe the murder was not random.

The grow op-related murder is the second in the last three years in Coquitlam.

In November 2003, a Surrey man was killed during a grow-rip at a Westwood
Plateau home. Two men - Manh Tuan Doan, 23, of Maple Ridge, and Huy Quoc
Do, 50, of Vancouver - will stand trial next September on charges of the
manslaughter and kidnapping in the death of Tuong (Tommy) Buu Vo.

Meanwhile, last Wednesday night, Coquitlam RCMP's Marijuana Enforcement
Team arrested a 69-year-old Coquitlam man after seizing 312 marijuana
plants (68 pounds of pot) from a home in the 2500-block of Jasmine Court,
in the Noons Creek sub-division.

Officers found most of the plants in grow rooms in the basement and a hydro
bypass in the garage, said Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista.