March 21 marks two years since the shooting death of Kenneth Craig.
Craig was gunned down in the Elk Road area between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. that day, and at this time, no arrests have been made.
West K News spoke with the woman who was with Craig the night he died and recalls the shooting.
She has asked to remain anonymous. For the purpose of this article she will be referred to as Jane.
“We planned to go look for bottles in the remaining few hours of dark left.”
The couple set out with a bike and trailer to the West Kelowna Walmart.
“In the Walmart parking lot corner was two males that I could only tell were males because they were yelling mockingly at us like they were drunk and trying to start something. I told Ken ‘keep going’ and ‘just ignore them’ because Ken and I were not ones to take anymore s*** than the public eye already gave us just because we were homeless.”
Jane says she and Craig crossed the highway to get away from the men, but the men followed.
“Ken had enough of people trying to mess with us every time we go out and we got off the bike and out of the trailer and Ken put his hands on my shoulders and told me ‘you wait here’… Ken is a big guy, so whatever he said to these guys before shoving one of them, I can see how anyone would be afraid. But as soon as he shoved one guy back the other pulled out a gun and shot him multiple times in the chest at close range.”
Jane says the men continued to shoot at her as she ran to help Craig. She attempted CPR while telling Craig she loved him.
When police arrived Craig lay lifeless while Jane was pulled away from the body and covered in blood.
READ MORE: One year later and no updates in West Kelowna murder
Jane describes Craig as a lover and protector, living the homeless life together in the forests of West Kelowna.
“I’d say unless Ken had a secret hidden agenda that I didn’t see any clues at any time to be happening, it was a random attack aimed at killing homeless people. I’d say it was probably based on assumptions and the stigma there is in Kelowna especially about homeless and who they are and what they do. And even though it may have been a homeless person who could have done something to these guys, I guarantee it wasn’t us because we were minding our business spending time together…It seemed targeted at homeless people not Ken specifically.”
Craig’s dad, Tim, is not pleased with the police investigation so far.
“Everytime we call them we leave messages and nobody calls us back at all.”
Two years after his death and still no answers, Tim says the whole family is struggling.
“These two punks are still walking around the streets, they’re lucky… On the ballistics, they must have something or some kind of fingerprint on the shell casings… He was shot three times in the chest and they shot at [Jane] six times, that’s nine shell casings on the ground and not one of them had a fingerprint on it.”
The RCMP previously stated the death of Craig was a targeted shooting.
West K News has requested an update on the investigation from the RCMP Southeast District Major Crime Unit.
Anyone with information that may help in the investigation is asked to call their tip-line at 1-877-987-8477.
READ MORE: Suspects identified, no arrests made as hate crimes team investigates Kelowna bus stop assault
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