The trial of a man charged with the fatal shooting more than seven years ago of a 28-year-old in South Surrey is set to get underway Tuesday (Feb. 25).
According to B.C. Supreme Court officials, 160 days have been set aside for the first-degree murder proceeding against Brandon Nathan Teixeira, with jury selection to take place this weekend (Feb. 22-23).
Teixeira was arrested in Oroville, Calif. in December 2019 in connection with the Oct. 23, 2017 killing of Nicholas Khabra.
Khabra was found suffering from fatal gunshot wounds when police responded to a residence in the 14300-block of Crescent Road following an early morning report of shots fired.
Teixeira was announced nearly a year later as a key suspect, and ultimately charged with first-degree murder. He was additionally charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure, in connection with gunshot wounds suffered on the same morning by a young woman who reportedly drove herself a short distance away from the scene and called 911. Police said at the time that they believed the woman, 24, was with Khabra when the shooting occurred.
Following a series of public appeals, warnings and manhunts 鈥� including one in South Surrey's Country Woods neighbourhood in September 2018 鈥� an anonymous tip pointed U.S. authorities to a residence in Oroville, a small city located approximately 100 kilometres north of Sacramento.
Teixeira did not surrender quietly and was described as using violent attempts to elude capture. He was extradited to Canada in late April 2020.
U.S court documents 鈥� obtained by Peace Arch News within days of Teixeira's arrest 鈥� allege Khabra鈥檚 death was motivated by revenge and a $160,000 bounty.
The trial is to take place in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
