PERCEIVED LINKS TO BACONS A DEATH WARRANT

All four youth killed in Abbotsford over the last six weeks were
likely targeted for death because of their perceived link to the Bacon
brothers, police chief Bob Rich said Thursday.

Rich said all four were selling drugs and not high up in any
organization, but were thought by rivals to be linked to the Bacons
and their Red Scorpion gang.

"It appears to us that these gangs that have not been completely
successful in eliminating all the targets they want to high up in the
Bacon organization are now targeting people at any level and that
includes entry level drug dealers," Rich said.

And he urged other young people involved to call a new hotline set up
to help them escape - 604-864-4787.

Calls are confidential and the information provided will not be used
by police in criminal cases, Rich said.

All four murders in Abbotsford this year were of young men aged 17 to
21.

On May 1, high school students Dilsher Gill, 17 and Joseph Randay, 18,
were found shot to death on Sumas Mountain.

Weeks earlier, 21-year-old Sean Murphy and Ryan Richards, 19, were
gunned down hours apart.

Rich warned teens that no one is safe if they get involved.

"I am here today to provide a public warning about a specific and
serious risk that exists for some of our young people," Rich said.

"Our intention is not to cause alarm but rather to communicate that
some of our kids are at risk."

He said in the case of Gill and Randay, their link to the Bacons was
"distant and tenuous."

The Vancouver Sun earlier reported the teens were friends with Mike
Ahuja, the teenaged brother of Bacon associate Sunny Ahuja.

Both Richards and Murphy were also linked to the Ahuja family, whose
house was targeted in a drive-by shooting March 11.

Rich said most of the violence in Abbotsford has been between the Red
Scorpions and Bacon associates and the United Nations.

He said normally police would not share their "working theory" with
the public in the middle of an investigation.

"We do this today because we feel we need to get this information into
the hands of the public," he said.

"All of these deaths are tragic, but to lose two young men in high
school is even more horrific."