B.C. judge says victim and suspect in targeted 2016 shooting were good friends

Jason Francis Wallace has been sentenced to eightyears in prison in the 2016 death ofRobert Keith Green, aftera provincial court judge saidWallace never intended to kill Green.

• Police say killing of 56-year-old Robert Greene was targeted

Wallace was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter using a firearm. In November, he pleaded guilty to the second charge.

In her reasons forsentencing, provincial court Judge Ellen Gordon said the death was a result of intoxication and having firearms nearby.

She says the two were good friends and that the incident was a"perfect case of manslaughter" an unintended death.

Green, 56, was discovered fatally wounded on Sunday Oct. 16, 2016, near72ndAvenue and Highway 1 in Langley.

At the time, investigators with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Green was a well-established member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and that his death was a result of targeted violence.

• Hells Angels hold Vancouver memorial for slain member Bob Green

A year earlier, Wallace faced drug trafficking charges, and, at the time, police said he was a senior member a group called the 856 gang.

Days after Green's death in 2016, the body of Shaun Alan Clarywas also found in Langley. Police, at the time, describedthe homicide as a targeted killing and linked it to Green's death.

• Targeted 2016 killings were connected, IHIT says

'The guilt you must feel'

IHIT hasn't elaborated on the connection it made between the two deaths. Gordon, in her decision, says it's clear Wallace never intended to kill Green.

"You had no animosity towards your friend and yet, because of your voluntary intoxication combined with a readily available firearm, this horrific circumstance occurred," wrote Gordon.

She appearedto takepity on Wallace, who is in his late 20s.

"I cannot imagine, having read all of the circumstances and the amount of intoxicants that you consumed, the guilt that you must feel," she wrote.

She also described penitentiaries as horrific placesbut encouraged Wallace to do all he could to work towards an early release.

"I want there to be light at the end of the tunnel."

Gordon said Wallace turned himself into authorities after the death and admitted responsibility throughout the case.

The sentencing range for manslaughter using a firearm is four years up to life imprisonment.

IHIThas notresponded to a request to elaborate on the connection between thedeaths of Green and Clary.