Here are some of our biggest stories from the week of December 23-29.
Retired Abbotsford police sergeant dies in head-on crash
Retired Abbotsford Police Department sergeant and former media spokesperson Shinder Kirk was identified as the victim killed in a head-on crash in Nanaimo last Saturday.
Two passengers in the Chevy pickup truck driven by Kirk were airlifted to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The 22-year-old driver of the other car, a Ford pickup, and his adult female passenger suffered minor injuries that didnot require hospitalization.
No cause of the crash has been determined as of yet, but neither alcohol nor speed were believed to be contributing factors.
Body found on rural Abbotsford property
Abbotsford Police Department patrol members found the remains in a pond on a rural property in the 29700 block of Maclure Road on Christmas Day.
Officers were called to the scene and located the body shortly thereafter. Regular patrol officers, forensic identification members, major crime detectives and BC Coroners Service all attended the scene.
The death is not seen as suspicious at this time.
Sentencing occurs in one Abbotsford drug case, charges stayed in another
Both men were believed to be involved in the Lower Mainland gang conflict. Cody McClain, 22, was arrested in June 2017 and recently convicted of two of nine drug charges he faced.
The remaining charges were stayed, along with two counts of breaching his bail conditions.
Meanwhile, Akshay Sachdeva, 19, who was also arrested in June 2017, had his charges stayed. A search warrant had been conducted at an Abbotsford home, where Sachdeva was arrested, and the search turned up several drugs, including fentanyl, police said at the time.
Christmas gifts stolen from family visiting Abbotsford hours after they were opened
The Langley family said their truck carrying all their Christmas gifts was broken into in Abbotsford, where they were spending time with family on Christmas and Boxing Day.
Anna Murphy said the toys were kept in the back of their family truck Christmas night in the Clearbrook neighbourhood, assuming they would be safe overnight.
However, in the morning the family discovered the back window of their truck had been smashed and everything inside was gone.
Finding A Way Home comes to a close
The News’ final two parts of Finding A Way Home, tales of love, connection and relationships on the streets of Abbotsford came out this week, putting to rest our series on homelessness in the city.
In part five, published in our Wednesday paper, we heard from youths formerly in the foster system on how the system designed to protect vulnerable youth can instead foster homelessness.
In part six: It’s been five years since city officials spread chicken manure over the Gladys Ave. homeless camp. How has the local homeless community’s relationship with Abbotsford City Hall evolved since then?
Read part five here, and read part six here.
Find the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s response to part five here.
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