A 60-year-old who loved tending to his garden and was thriving in a new community living program. A charismatic 43-year-old who had a “huge heart.”
Details emerged Thursday about the two men killed hours apart by a lone gunman during a six-hour shooting rampage in Langley in the early hours of Monday.
Homicide investigators say they released the identities of the dead victims, Paul Wynn and Steven Furness, in an effort to ease the worry of friends and families and assess if there are others unaccounted for after the deadly shootings.
“We’ve learned there are those in the community looking for their friends and loved ones, wondering if they were victims,” said Sgt. David Lee of IHIT.
However, the news provides no relief to the families of those whose lives were taken by the gunman.
A colourful display of flowers has begun to bloom in the spot where Wynn — previously identified by a friend with the surname Wallace — was shot and killed outside his supportive housing complex, Creek Stone Place, around 3 a.m. on July 25.
The 60-year-old was the second person targeted after a 26-year-old woman was shot near Cascades Casino around midnight and taken to Langley Memorial hospital where she remains in critical condition.
Known by many in Langley as ‘small Paul,’ Wynn could often be found outside, cultivating the facility’s gardens or tuning up his road bike, said his younger sibling, John.
The brothers grew up a close pair in Surrey’s Whalley neighbourhood.
“Everybody knew him, he was always so joyful, so friendly, always offering to help others with fixing their car or anything. You would never know that he suffered.”
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In the past three years, Paul, who grappled with substance use disorder, had been “getting better” with the stability the community living program provided him, his brother said.
Paul had also reconnected with his adult son, who lives on Vancouver Island and is now “very much struggling” after his father’s death, he added.
“Paul had a beautiful home and he was standing tall,” said his brother. “He didn’t deserve to go out like this.”
John said police told him Paul was out gardening in the early hours of Monday, when the shooter approached him with a gun in hand.
“He shot him point-blank, emptying the clip of his gun into Paul,” the brother said. “The killer had enough ammunition to do serious damage to others but my brother took the brunt of it.”
Police have not confirmed what type of weapon was used in Monday’s shootings, which targeted people who have been identified by community members and friends as formerly or currently homeless.
John believes his brother happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when he crossed paths with an “extremely sad and disturbed” gunman who “took out his anger on my brother.”
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With increased access and availability to mental health support and interventions in British Columbia, John said, the shooting might have been prevented.
“This individual was so mentally ill, he needed immediate mental health help.”
Two hours after Wynn died, the shooter travelled to the parking lot of the Langley Centre bus loop, where he killed 43-year-old Steven Furness around 5 a.m.
Born and raised in Langley, Furness had a “huge heart” and a “contagious smile,” his sister Melanie posted on social media Wednesday. She said her brother had been sleeping outside when the gunman attacked.
His mother, Lorraine, recalled her son’s younger years wrought with anxiety, ADHD and learning difficulties “which were a constant source of frustration — as he was so bright” in school.
“The second of our four children — a beautiful blond-haired charismatic boy,” she told Postmedia.
Friends from high school recalled him as full of laughter and jokes.
As an adult, Furness “married a wonderful woman and had a beautiful daughter. He loved them both very much.”
However, his mother said a habit of self-medicating spiralled into a substance-use disorder, which caused the Langley resident to struggle in the last eleven years of his life.
“He was a warm-hearted man who didn’t deserve to die such a violent death … hopefully Steven’s tragic death will put a spotlight on the plight of the homeless and vulnerable in society.”
Raymond Wiberg, an outreach worker at Langley’s Vineyard Church near the bus loop, said he last saw Furness two days before his death.
“He was known in the community as ‘Fur Nuts’ — both for his last name and for the longest time he had this big mop of hair and beard.”
About 45 minutes after Furness was killed, the gunman shot a man on 200th Street near the Langley Bypass. The 26-year-old remains in hospital with a leg wound.
Close by, police shot and killed suspect Jordan Daniel Goggin, 28, from Surrey. Investigators believe he was travelling in a white, four-door Mazda and changed into brown overalls and a camouflage T-shirt during the rampage. His motive remains unknown.
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