New charges brought in gang-related murder case

 

double-murder case involving two men shot in the parking lot of a McDonald's in Notre Dame de Grâce did not end with the suicide of the Hells Angel who ordered their deaths. Brian Patrick McGuire, 50, of La-Salle, was charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kirk Murray, 47, and Antonio Onesi, 51. The men were killed on Jan. 24, 2010, outside the restaurant on St. Jacques St. W. Sporting a Boston Celtics sweatshirt over a green hoody, McGuire looked around the room during his brief appearance in the prisoner's dock at the Montreal courthouse. He fixed his gaze on a woman seated at the back of the room and acknowledged her presence with a nod. Two men who took part in the killings turned informant and implicated Jeffrey Albert Lynds, a Nova Scotia man and member of the Hells Angels Nomads chapter in Ontario at the time of the murders. As his trial neared, Lynds committed suicide at the Rivière des Prairies Detention Centre late in January. According to evidence during Lynds's preliminary inquiry, Robert William Simpson - one of two brothers who agreed to give evidence after their arrests - admitted to being the gunman in the double slaying and testified that he did it for Lynds. Murray had arranged a drug deal with Lynds, and Simpson testified Lynds offered him $20,000 to kill Murray. On Feb. 23, 2011, Simpson and his brother, Shawn, pleaded guilty to killing Murray and Onesi. Both received life sentences. The case appeared to come to an end with Lynds's suicide. But on Tuesday, Montreal police arrested McGuire. Sources familiar with the case have told The Gazette that McGuire, who has a criminal record, is alleged to have had a direct role in the two murders. In 2000, he and another man from the Montreal area were pulled over in a vehicle on the Trans-Canada Highway and were found to be carrying nine kilograms of hashish. In 2001, he had the case transferred to Montreal where he pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with the intention to traffic. He was sentenced to a one-year prison term and two years of probation. McGuire is to remain in custody pending a bail hearing. His next court date was set for March 15.