A Maple Ridge man who killed a woman in a 2022 double shooting has been found guilty of murder and sentenced in New Westminster Supreme Court on Friday, Oct. 11.

Justin Wareing, 33, was convicted of the second degree murder of Cashmere Ali, 35, and sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for a period of 14 years. A conviction for second degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for at least 10 years.

For the attempted murder of Matthew Whitty, who suffered serious gunshot wounds, he was also sentenced to 13 years in prison, to be served concurrently.

The shooting took place on the morning of July 15, 2022 in Maple Ridge, at a residence described in court as a hangout for illicit drug users. It was in a complex in the 22600 block of 119 Avenue, and there were seven or eight people there at the time.

Two days before the shooting, Wareing and Whitty robbed a drug dealer in a home invasion robbery, and both used handguns.

Wareing who has the words "Rogue Assassin" tattooed under each eye, had a semiautomatic 3D-printed pistol. Whitty had a .22 calibre handgun.

Whitty testified his gun discharged accidentally during that robbery, and because of that he disposed of it.

Wareing heard afterwards that Whitty had withheld some of the proceeds of the robbery for himself and he went to confront him with the 3D handgun at the duplex on 119th.

Ali was sitting beside Whitty on a couch in the living room. Wareing pulled up a chair, facing the pair, and confronted Whitty.

Each man had a different account of what happened next.

Whitty testified that during the confrontation, Wareing grabbed Whitty's leg and shot him in the knee. Reacting, Ali tried to push Wareing away, and he shot her in the head. Whitty tried to flee, and Waring kept shooting at him.

However, Wareing testified that the men argued, and then he got up to leave. He then heard the sound of a gunshot behind him, so he took his gun out, swivelled and 鈥渟hot up the living room."

Their stories converge again with Wareing continuing to shoot at Whitty, as he moved through the living room.

Whitty suffered wounds to his face that included an entry wound close to his right eye and nose, and an exit wound in his left cheek. The bullet fractured his nose in many places. He also had a gunshot wound to his left knee, and another to his right shoulder that fractured his clavicle and shoulder blade.

Ali was kept alive at the scene by an advanced life support paramedic and other first responders, but died at hospital.

Wareing fled to a nearby residence where he changed his appearance by shaving his head. He attempted to flee out the back door when police came to apprehend him.

There was a 9 mm shell casing and a .22 calibre casing also found among eight spent casings at the scene. Six were from Wareings gun. No other gun was found. The defence argued Whitty or someone else had fired a shot, but the judge found he hadn't.

The judge said the defence assertion that Whitty used a 9 mm handgun immediately before Wareing started shooting leads one to wonder why Whitty did not use it when Wareing was shooting at him, he said. Whitty showed a willingness to use it in order to fire some sort of warning shot, so it seems very unlikely he would have held his fire in the face of a life-threatening onslaught, the judge found.  

An eyewitness told the courts only Wareing had fired shots.

Victim impact statements were heartfelt and compelling, said the judge, as Ali's family members spoke of their profound sense of loss, heartbreak, despairing sadness, anger, sleeplessness, and guilt.

Whitty鈥檚 mother also spoke of the serious injuries suffered by her son, and of the serious consequences those injuries have had, and may still have.

Wareing grew up in Maple Ridge, was "largely unemployed," but worked in restaurants, roofing and construction. From 2015 he was sometimes homeless, lived with friends or in shelters, and used methamphetamine, with drugs being a significant part of his life. His criminal record includes five robberies, using an imitation firearm during an offence, flight from police, assault, theft over $5,000, assaulting a police officer, and breach of undertaking.

In March of this year, at North Fraser Pretrial Centre, he stabbed an inmate multiple times, continuing even as staff tried to intervene and used pepper spray.

Defence counsel noted he expressed regret at Ali's death, has the support of his family, and has taken every program available at the pretrial centre.

Wareing has been in pretrial custody for 817 days, and because this is considered "hard time," he is credited with having already served 1,226 days.

Wareing is also charged in connection to the murder of Arthur Comeau in April of 2022 in Maple Ridge.