Gunman sentenced to life in prison for murder at B.C. restaurant

The outside of the Manzo restaurant in Richmond, B.C., is pictured following a shooting in September 2020. (IHIT)

A gunman convicted in the brazen killing of another man at a restaurant in Richmond, B.C., has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Richard Charles Reed was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court earlier this month for the first-degree murder of 44-year-old Jian Jun Zhu on Sept. 18, 2020.

Zhu, who had been accused of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through B.C. casinos, died in hospital the day after the shooting at the Manzo sushi restaurant.

Justice Alan Ross also handed Reed a six-year prison sentence for intentional discharge of a prohibited weapon, and a four-year sentence for possession of a prohibited weapon.

Those sentences will be served concurrent to the 25-year murder sentence, Ross wrote in a Jan. 14 decision that was published online Monday.

Reed was found guilty of the charges following a six-week trial that concluded last September.

‘Intended to kill’

The trial heard that Reed fired seven shots through the windows of the restaurant at close range.

The first shot “was aimed at, and entered, the back of Mr. Zhu’s head as he sat with his back against the window,” Ross summarized in his sentencing decision. “The first shot was a targeted shot intended to kill.”

The following six shots were fired randomly into the restaurant where between 30 and 40 customers were dining, according to the judge.

Zhu’s associate, Paul Jin, was also injured in the shooting.

Jin was the subject of a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in March 2019, accusing him of using the proceeds of crime to buy a Richmond building that houses a mixed martial arts gym.

“Mr. Reed planned and deliberated on the murder,” Ross said. “He spent 20 minutes surveying the restaurant, walking around or through the Manzo parking lot. He waited for the sun to set so that he could commit the offence under the cover of darkness.”

Police conducted a search of Reed’s rented home on Nov. 28, 2020, turning up the Norinco .45-calibre handgun that investigators determined was used in the deadly restaurant shooting.

“It is clear that you have a long road ahead of you,” the judge said, addressing Reed directly at the conclusion of his sentencing hearing.

“I encourage you to access the programs that are available to you inside the institutions where you will be serving your sentences. My hope is that you will avail yourself of those opportunities for rehabilitation.”