4 charged with 3 killings in Canada

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EDMONTON, Alberta, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Four men charged with a string of killings in western Canada are members of the White Boy Posse, a racist street gang, police said Tuesday.

Three of the suspects are charged with killing Lorry Ann Santos, who was shot dead when she answered an early morning knock on her front door in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in September, The Edmonton Journal reported. Investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the killers went to the wrong house and Santos, whose husband and four children were in the house, was a victim of mistaken identity.

The other killings took place in Alberta. Bryan Gower, 35, was shot dead near Kitscoty on Sept. 25.

Robert John Roth, 54, was found dead in a ditch near Ranfurly east of Edmonton in October. He had been beheaded, and his head was discovered in an Edmonton alley two days later.

Randy James Wayne O'Hagan, 22, is the only one of the four charged with all three killings. Kyle Darren Halbauer, 22, is charged with killing Santos and Gower.

Joshua Dylan Petrin, 29, has been charged with killing Santos and Nikolas Jon Nowytzkyj, 32, of Wainwright with killing Roth. O'Hagan and Halbauer also face attempted murder charges for allegedly wounding another man when they shot Gower.

Police Superintendent Ted Miles said the White Boy Posse operates in northern Alberta with territory extending into Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territory. The gang is allegedly involved in drug dealing.

"What is surprising to me and my teammates is the level of violence to which they've now escalated," Miles said.