Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted in Ontario double homicide: DOJ

October 17, 2024 Canuck

A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder is wanted and another suspect is in custody in connection with a double homicide in Ontario last year, United States law enforcement say.

The Department of Justice said Thursday that Ryan James Wedding, who competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and Andrew Clark, allegedly directed the Nov. 20, 2023 murders of two family members in Caledon, “in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California.”

The Canadians, who reside in Mexico, are two of 16 defendants identified in a superseding indictment unsealed today, which alleges that the group was running what officials described as a transnational drug trafficking operation. Officials say the defendants “routinely” shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into Canada and the U.S.

Clark was arrested on Oct. 8 by Mexican law enforcement, a news release states, however Wedding is still outstanding.

The DOJ said in addition to Wedding and Clark ordering the double homicide in Caledon, which also left one other family member seriously injured, they directed the murder of another victim on May 18, 2024 over a drug debt, but authorities didn’t say where that homicide took place. Clark and another suspect, identified as 23-year-old Canadian Malik Damion Cunningham, are also charged in a murder on April 1, 2024 in Mississauga.

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” according to the Federal Bureau of investigation, is the lead defendant in the indictment and is wanted on eight charges, including three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise.

Clark, who is known by the alias “The Dictator,” is facing the same charges, as well as an additional count of murder.

CTV News Toronto previously reported on the double homicide in Caledon in March. Peel police at that time said they believed the triple shooting was a case of mistaken identity, as they searched for suspects identified in a joint investigation with OPP dubbed “Project Midnight.”

Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, who was shot 13 times, survived. Her parents, Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, did not.

Police said that shooting was linked to at least five others in the span of just over two weeks.

“I want to stress that the Sidhu family were completely innocent. Our investigation has determined that these three victims were mistakenly targeted and were not involved in the alleged trafficking organization,” OPP Dep. Commissioner Marty Kearns said at athe Thursday morning news conference in Los Angeles, where authorities provided an update on their investigation.

Police allege that Ontario residents Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, ran the Canadian transportation operations of Wedding and Clark’s drug trafficking network, using long-haul semi-trucks to transport the narcotics into the country after they were stored in stash houses by operatives in Los Angeles.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to US$50,000 for any information leading to Wedding’s arrest.

This is a breaking news story. More to come.

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