Alleged gangster implicated in 2018 slaying facing new charge from alleged jailhouse incident

Photo: Contributed

Nathan Townsend (left) poses for a photo with Red Scorpions founder Konaam Shirzad, who was gunned down outside his Guerin Creek home in September of 2017.

An alleged Kamloops gangster implicated in the 2018 slaying of a city man is facing a new charge stemming from an alleged incident that took place last fall while he was in jail.

Nathan Townsend, 25, has been behind bars since the fall of 2019, when he was one of five men arrested and charged with murder in the death of Troy Gold, a 35-year-old man whose remains were found in the Lac du Bois area late in 2018.

Gold is believed to have been involved in the Kamloops drug trade, as had each of the five men implicated in his death. The charge against Townsend relating to Gold’s death was reduced to manslaughter last year.

Townsend was in Kamloops provincial court on Thursday, appearing by video from jail, facing a new charge of uttering threats stemming from an alleged incident on Oct. 6, 2020, when he was in custody at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.

Lawyers are expected to return to court on July 5 to set a date for Townsend’s trial on the uttering threats charge.

He and co-accused Jayden Eustache are expected to stand trial on their charges stemming from Gold’s death early next year.

Three other men — Darien Rohel, John Daviss and Sean Scurt — are expected to stand trial in October on manslaughter charges relating to Gold’s death.

Townsend has been described in the past by police as having gang ties. He is believed to have been a top lieutenant of Red Scorpions founder Konaam Shirzad before Shirzad was shot to death in 2017 outside his Guerin Creek home.