'DISORGANIZED CRIME' BLAMED FOR RECENT SPATE OF MURDERS

EDMONTON - As police investigate Edmonton's record-breaking 28th homicide
of the year, a local criminologist is pointing to the fractured control of
the drug trade as possible causes.

Keith Spencer, a University of Alberta criminologist, says of the 28
homicides in Edmonton in 2004, at least 11 of them have had some sort of
gang connection. Spencer said that's not surprising, given the fact that
there is a lot of competition in the city's drug trade.

"As long as we have a lot of groups competing in the field, I think we're
going to have a lot of falling out and settling of scores. If we had one
strong group that was controlling the drug trade, we wouldn't have as much
of the random violence as we do now.

"People love to throw this term organized crime around, and on one level I
guess you could call it that. But really, what we have here at the moment
is more disorganized crime."

The drug trade is currently split between various First Nation, Asian and
biker gangs, Spencer said.

The latest murder victim was discovered Saturday afternoon when a cyclist
discovered a body in a gazebo in Henrietta Louise Edwards Park, near the
corner of 96A Street and 98A Avenue.

Police would not say how the 21-year-old victim was killed, but did say the
slaying was gang-related. Investigators have identified the dead man as
someone they've had previous dealings with, but have not yet released his name.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.

The Saturday discovery marked the second homicide in three days.

Souraphanh Beungxay, 21, was shot and killed early Thursday morning outside
a west-end apartment building at 15216 100th Ave.

The police are releasing little information, but say Beungxay took a cab to
the area where his body was found at about 6:15, arriving just minutes
before his neighbours were awoken by the crack of gunshots.