Photo: Castanet

FILE- A Vancouver man was sentenced for weapons charges.

A hitman who was threatening people in downtown Kelowna one night in the summer of 2021 was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, though he’ll be there much longer.

Jose Lopez, 26, was one of the men convicted in the murder of Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik last week. For that crime the Lower Mainland man received a life sentence with no chance of parole for 20 years.

The sentence for the Kelowna charges — which included possession of a loaded restricted firearm, uttering threats, and pointing a firearm without lawful excuse — will largely be served concurrently to the murder sentence, BC Supreme Court Justice Briana Hardwick said Friday.

“All seven counts were from a series of events which took place in downtown Kelowna between approximately 1:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on July 17, 2021,” Hardwick said. These crimes took place before the killing that gained Lopez notoriety.

The first incident happened behind the Earls restaurant. There, Lopez and and a group of unnamed companions, were giving someone a hard time and when another man entered the fray to deescalate the situation. Hardwick said that's when things got worse.

“During the course thereof, a young male in a red shirt pulled a gun,” she said.

Eventually that situation was defused and the man later identified as Lopez went on to cause more issues.

At approximately 3 a.m. at Lawrence Avenue and Abbott Street, Hardwick said an argument broke out for unknown reasons.

“There was some discussion about gang involvement, and the individual in the red shirt identified himself in some way, as Bibo,” Hardwick said.

“That was apparently a term that was familiar to the two individuals who were engaged in the argument.”

The court heard that BIBO or "Blood In, Blood Out" is a criminal organization, and after Lopez identified himself as part of that group, he said “he was looking for a body,” Hardwick said.

Then, Hardwick said, he pulled out some pepper spray or mace, said he also had a gun and threatened to use one or both.

Again, that situation was deescalated in time.

Hardwick said Lopez said “sorry, bro” and started walking toward downtown. She described these words as a show of remorse.

The latter group reported Lopez to police and said he’d been driving a white BMW.

“Ultimately that white BMW stopped in or out the vicinity of the Bank of Montreal on Bernard in downtown Kelowna,” Hardwick said.

“A male in the red tank top was seen exiting the vehicle and then quickly started to run from the police.”

He was tackled while on the run by police. Lopez originally denied doing anything wrong and told the officers “he was going for a midnight jog” when they tackled him.

That proved not to be the case. When they later searched Lopez’s car they found a Smith and Wesson 338, some ammunition, flip flops and a couple of life preservers.

While most of the charges came with a concurrent sentence, Hardwick said nine months would be served consecutively for the charge of possession of pepper spray.

Lopez committed the Kelowna crimes before going on to kill the former Air India bombing suspect. Reports from that case indicate that the killing was for money, though who paid has never been identified.