Gang gunmen shoot wrong man in Vancouver slaying Special

Raj Soomel, a 35-year-old father, was gunned down near a half-way house in Vancouver where he was living following a conviction for attempted murder. On Sept. 29 he was gunned down. Police now say it was a case of mistaken identity.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Raj Soomel was an innocent victim of gang gunmen who were targeting someone else, Vancouver Police revealed Wednesday. Soomel, 35, was gunned down on Sept. 29, near a half-way house at Cambie and 19th and police now say the intended target also lived at the same location. Soomel had been trapped in a controversial RCMP "Mr. Big" sting and was convicted of attempted murder. He had been given the minimum sentence by a judge who said Soomel had no prior history of a criminal lifestyle before he became a target of the RCMP project. Soomel's wife, Nina, 30, and his parents were approached by Vancouver Police on Tuesday, a day before police made public the fact that he had not been the intended victim of reckless gunmen who opened fire on a busy street. Soomel has a young daughter. "It is certainly a case of mistaken identity," said Vancouver Police spokesman Lindsey Houghton. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and these gunmen came to the half-way house looking for another target." "We know who the intended victim was," said Houghton, an assertion that points to specific intelligence police have on the case of the mistaken identity killing. "We can't identify the intended victim because his life is still in danger," Houghton said. Soomel's family was approached by investigators who promised to set the record straight about his death, said Houghton. "Our investigators were with the family as late as yesterday afternoon, we told them we would set this straight - something which the family certainly deserves" said Houghton. "They were happy we were going to do that." "Often what is lost in cases like these is that Mr. Soomel had a wife, and child and parents - and they are people first," said Houghton about the tragedy.