Original Independent Soldiers gang member found murdered near Princeton (2024)

An original member of the Independent Soldiers gang was found murdered on a property near Princeton on Saturday afternoon.

Donald Bryce Lyons, 52, had a long history of drug trafficking and other crimes. When he died, he had outstanding charges of uttering threats and assault before courts in Kelowna and Princeton.

The RCMP’s Southeast District Major Crime Unit is in charge of the investigation. Police issued a news release Monday that said the victim died as “the result of foul play.” They didn’t identify the man, but Postmedia News confirmed with sources that it was Lyons.

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“Investigators believe this incident is isolated and there is no threat to the public,” Staff Sgt. Jason Smart said in the release. “As the investigation is in its early stages, investigators are not releasing further details, including further details about the deceased.”

Lyons had been associated with the IS since it was formed about 20 years ago. At its height in the 2000s, the gang had dozens of members in B.C. and Alberta, as well as relationships with crime groups across Canada.

Some of the Soldiers went on to form the now more powerful Wolfpack gang alliance with some Hells Angels and some Red Scorpions.

Lyons was close to Wolfpack gangster Sukhvir Singh Deo, who was fatally shot in Toronto in 2016. And he was also associated with Hells Angel Larry Amero, an original Wolfpack member. Amero is currently serving an 18-year sentence, but is appealing his 2022 convictions for conspiracy to kill rivals Sandip Duhre and Sukh Dhak.

A family member, who asked not to be identified, told Postmedia Monday that Lyons had changed his life around, had a good job and was volunteering in the community. They said they had no idea why he would be targeted.

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Lyons had been in and out of prison since 2007, when he was ensnared in an undercover investigation out of Manitoba dubbed Project Drill that was targeting then-Kelowna Hells Angel Lester Jones.

Lyons had been friends with a career criminal who agreed to be an agent in the investigation. Police surreptitiously video-recorded as Lyons sold the agent a kilo of cocaine for $26,000. He later pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and got an eight-year sentence minus time served.

A federal prosecutor told his April 2009 sentencing hearing in Winnipeg that Lyons declared just $354 in income the previous year,while living a lavish lifestyle in Kelowna.

Police seized an arsenal of weapons from his Okanagan rental home, including 19 guns, a variety of silencers and a grenade. He pleaded guilty in a Kelowna courtroom to several weapons charges in 2010 and was sentenced to three years.

A month after Lyons got parole in November 2012, he was arrested again because police received information that he tried to contract a hit. But they couldn’t substantiate the allegation and he was re-released with special conditions.

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“You said the information is false and likely given to the police by someone who wants you to be sent back to prison,” a parole board decision obtained by Postmedia at the time said.

A few months later, he was criminally charged in a domestic assault case and his parole was revoked again.

Board members noted that Lyons’ pattern when he was an IS leader “included physical aggression and intimidation.”

“You were comfortable living a criminal lifestyle and … you cared little for the rights or feelings of others,” the parole board said.

While incarcerated, he was moved to a higher-security institution after police received information that someone was plotting to harm him.

He claimed to corrections officials that he didn’t believe he would be targeted, and also told the parole board that he had broken his ties with the Soldiers.

After another suspension for hanging out with criminal associates, the parole board commented on Lyons’ penchant for getting into trouble.

“You chose to put yourself in a high-risk situation and you appear to have been involved in the planning of potential criminal activity.”

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kbolan@postmedia.com

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