By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
METRO VANCOUVER - The yellow police tape remained up around the parking lot of Surrey Lake Park Tuesday afternoon as homicide investigators publicly identified Garry Bassi as Metro Vancouver’s latest murder victim.
Bassi, a 23-year-old Surrey resident, was found slain in his vehicle late Monday after noon at the popular walking park just off 152 Street and 72 Avenue.
At the time of his death, Bassi was on bail for several firearms charges laid in August 2008.
He was due to got to trial in March 2010 and was out on a $75,000 bond, according to court files.
Police are now hoping the public can help them narrow down how long Bassi’s 1992 white Honda Accord was sitting in the lakeside parking lot.
“If you saw the car, when is the first time that you saw the car?” Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop said Tuesday. “If you saw it one day, was it there the next? Did you see anything suspicious in and around the park?
The parking lot is on the east side of 152nd across the road from several residences and south of a golf course.
Dunlop said it is a popular place to walk the dog or go for a stroll. And the parking lot is visible from 152nd.
“We think there are probably more people out there with information than those we have spoken to and we really want the eyes of the community to help narrow down the window of how long that vehicle was sitting there,” she said. “The autopsy will help determine the time of death.”
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team took over the criminal probe Tuesday. No details about the cause of death or even where Bassi was seated in the car are being released.
Obviously police are looking at Bassi’s criminal links to see if the slaying is gang-related or linked to organized crime, Dunlop said.
But they also haven’t ruled out anything so far.
“We are definitely exploring that,” she said.
“But it is important not to get tunnel vision in an investigation."
Among Bassi's facebook friends were Peter Adiwal, a gangster wounded in a Burnaby shooting last May, as well as Gopi Bains, a south slope gangster whose house has been shot at several times in recent years.
Dunlop said Bassi was the registered owner of the older-model Honda, which has four doors.
"In investigations of this nature even seemingly small pieces of information can prove invaluable," Dunlop said. "Piecing a moment in time back together can take hours, days, even weeks, and the police need the help of the public to do that in this case".
Anyone who may have seen the vehicle or any suspicious activity related in the general area of Surrey Lake Park over the last several days is asked to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551- 4448 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477.
Bassi was convicted in June 2006 of inflicting fear of injury and given a $500 fine and a year of conditions. Other counts of assault and uttering threats were dropped, as were charges laid several months later of assault with a weapon and assault.
Gun charges were laid against him in February 2007 in Delta and then again in Surrey in both March and August 2007, but none of the charges proceeded to court after the Crown received “new information.”
Then he was charged on August 29, 2008 with unauthorized possession of firearm, possessing prohibited weapon without licence and Possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition – the charges that were outstanding when he died.