Photo: ironathletics_official Instagram
Kyle Gianis
UPDATE 11:40 am
The man who was shot in front of a Kelowna gym this week has been evading assassinations for years.
Kyle Gianis was wounded in a daytime shooting in the Global Fitness parking lot on Harvey Avenue Monday, the Vancouver Sun has confirmed. He is expected to survive.
Investigators on Monday focused on Gianis’ matte black Corvette parked at the scene. The same Corvette can be seen on promotional photos for Gianis’ Iron Athletics company.
Iron Athletics operates from a house in West Kelowna that was raided last week by the Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit – the provincial police force unit.
CFSEU Sgt. Brenda Winpenny told Castanet on Wednesday that investigators are preparing a disclosure package for prosecutors related to this search warrant and declined to comment on the shootings.
For a person who has apparently organized crime groups for years, Gianis has led an unusually public life in the past 12 months. At the beginning of the pandemic, he hosted a reality show at his West Kelowna home that generated outrage and coverage. He also continued to apply on social media through his business.
In 2017, he was the target of a shooting in Langley outside a restaurant that killed his friend Tyler Pastuck. Drug dealer David Tull was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the 2017 conspiracy to murder Gianis that led to the shootings.
Then, in 2018, Surrey nurse Paul Bennett was killed when an assassin looking for Gianis walked into the wrong house, the Vancouver Sun reports.
Gianis was sentenced to 13 years in prison in Washington state in 2008 for smuggling methamphetamine precursors into the United States. He was transferred to Canada and released on parole in 2013.
In 2007, the CBC reported that Gianis was the resident of a house who was shot and killed two nights in a row.
The Kelowna RCMP, meanwhile, on Wednesday appealed to witnesses to the shooting or the gray car that later escaped the scene and was found burning in Glenmore.
ORIGINAL 11:10 am
Kelowna RCMP would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the brazen shooting in Kelowna on Monday.
You want to speak to anyone who may have eyewitnesses to the events, drivers with dashcam footage, or Glenmore residents who may have surveillance footage.
The incident happened just after 12:30 p.m. Monday when a man was shot dead in the parking lot of the Global Gym on Harvey Avenue near Burtch Road.
The male rifleman fled the scene in a silver four-door limousine, heading north on Burtch.
At around 12:55 p.m., a gray four-door Chevrolet Malibu was seen abandoned and burned on Longhill Road.
RCMP investigators say the vehicle was linked to the shooting incident and was driven north on Glenmore Drive before it was set on fire.
“Kelowna RCMP is seeking public support for information related to the shooting or the suspicious vehicle in order to advance the ongoing investigation,” says Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy.
“Specifically, we would like to speak to everyone who has been to these areas, including the North Glenmore area on March 29th between 12:35 pm and 1:00 pm.”
If you are able to provide assistance, please contact the Kelowna RCMP Serious Crime Unit at 250-762-3300.
Photo: RCMP
