The trial for the three men accused of the 2011 gangland style slaying of Jonathan Bacon has again been delayed.
Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason Thomas McBride and Michael Hunter Jones will now go to trial May 1 2017 for one charge of first-degree murder apiece, as well as multiple attempted murder charges and firearms offences.
That date marks nearly six years since the shooting that threw Kelowna into chaos.
“Clearly, this kind of incident is very rare in Kelowna. However, when it does happen, it is shocking and traumatic to those affected by it and is of concern to those living in this community,” Const. Steve Holmes said at a press conference shortly after the incident.
“The public needs to know that swift and extraordinary measures are being taken in order to ensure that those responsible will be found and brought to account before the courts.”
McBride, Khun-Khun and Jones’s arrest came two years after the killing, and their original trial was scheduled for April 4, 2016.
It was then delayed to Nov. 7, 2016.
Bacon, a 30-year-old Red Scorpion gang leader, was shot to death out side the Delta Grand Hotel as he got into his Porsche Cayenne Aug. 14, 2011.
He was the eldest of the three notorious Bacon brothers from Abbotsford, who at the time were in the middle of a gang war.
The shooting also wounded a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, Larry Amero, a member of the Independent Soldiers gang, James Riach, and two women — including Leah Hadden Watts who was left a paraplegic.
Although there were no bystanders injured in the attack, a stray bullet did puncture the window of the art gallery at a time when children are often gathered for art classes.
Staff at the Delta Grand reportedly suffered emotional scars from the incident that left a bloody trail around the hotel.
