Family calls for justice 2 years after killing of 19-year-old working at Winnipeg beer vendor | CBC News

The mother of a young man who was killed while he was working at a Winnipeg beer vendor says she doesn’t believe justice was done on behalf of her son.

Members of the Filipino community gathered Thursday around the site where John Lloyd Barrion was killed two years ago.

Ryan Jeron Smith, one of the people charged after the death on Feb. 15, 2022, pleaded guilty in connection to the crime. Smith was sentenced to seven years in prison, minus about two years for time already served earlier this month.

Maria Barrion, John Lloyd’s mother, said that’s not enough.

“It’s not just. It’s not a property that has been lost: It’s a life,” she said. “After five years, they will be out there.”

John Lloyd was shot during a robbery at Travelodge by Wyndham Winnipeg hotel on Notre Dame Avenue, shortly after 3 a.m.

Her mother said she often passes by the place where he died.

Maria Barrion said the wounds from his death haven’t healed, and that she regrets she was out of the province when it happened.

“I usually [picked] him up in like about three in the in the in the morning.… I was not able to come here and pick him up that morning,” she said.

“I’m not very comfortable him working here like especially at night.… I told him that’s not a safe place to work because you know, nowadays there’s bad guys anywhere. And he said, ‘I will be OK’.… He will always say, ‘I’m OK.'”

John Christian Barrion, one of John Lloyd’s older siblings, said his family has been torn apart by the death.

“We’re taking it really hard. One of my siblings, younger siblings, have stopped going to high school,” he said. “We would never have thought this would be something that would happen to us.”

About two dozen people attended the vigil Thursday evening, which was organized with the help of 204 Volunteers Inc.

‘Seven years is a joke’

Leila Castro is the founder of the grassroots group, which tries to make Winnipeg safer by organizing things such as neighbourhood patrols and needle cleanups.

She said other members of Winnipeg’s Filipino community were outraged by the sentence. 

“Seven years is a joke. Seven years — that’s not the worth of the life of a child,” she said, adding that it’s not the first time a young Filipino has had their life cut short due to violence in Winnipeg.

“In 2019, Jimboy [Jaime Adao Jr.] was murdered while he was inside his house, which was supposed to be a place of safety for him. And then 2022 it was John Lloyd and, you know, the place of work should be a a place of safety for him,” Castro said.

“The two are from immigrant families, meaning they left their first home country, came here hoping, dreaming for a better life for the children. But in the end, they were just murdered in a very brutal way.”

Two other people were initially charged in John Lloyd’s death. One, William Arthur Sampson, is still awaiting trial, while the other had their charges stayed.

John Christian said his brother’s death was preventable, and called for solutions.

“I wish there could have been preventative measures through workplace safety incidents or through root causes like poverty funding and addictions funding,” he said. 

“[John Lloyd] was very kind. He has lots of friends. He has lots of people that love him. He’s one of the most respectful, kind, hard working young men that I know.… Nothing of this sort deserved to happen to him.”