by Monique Tamminga, Black Press
An Abbotsford man is one of two people who have been charged in connection with an Aldergrove grow-op that is tied to a fatal shooting on Friday night.
Craig Bruce Challenger, 27, of Abbotsford and Taylor Raymond Mears, 32, of Surrey have each been charged with production of a controlled substance at a home in the 900 block of 272 Street.
Spokesperson Cpl. Holly Marks said the Langley RCMP's drug section seized almost 600 pot plants from the home.
Mears and Challenger have been released and are expected again in Surrey provincial court on March 26. Challenger does not have a criminal record in B.C., according to the provincial court database.
Mears was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in White Rock in 2000.
Surrey resident Korey Tyler Kelly, 25, was believed to have been among a group attempting to rob the grow-op at the home on Friday night. He was shot multiple times, and his associates managed to get him into the backseat of a car and drive away, calling 911 in the process, said Sgt. Jennifer Pound, spokesperson for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
Police officers en route to the 911 call were flagged down by Kelly's associates. He was taken by ambulance but died on the way to hospital.
Mears and Challenger were interviewed as people of interest in the crime but have not been charged in connection to Kelly's murder. No arrests have been made for Langley's first homicide of the year.
Kelly had a history of ripping off grow-ops, including an attempted murder charge involving a violent home invasion and grow rip in Surrey in 2004.
He was sentenced to a lesser charge of breaking and entering, and received a year in prison.
He had been actively committing crime for a decade, facing numerous charges for illegal possession of firearms, possession and production of drugs, and breaching his conditions.