Chilliwack’s Jonathan David Olson was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in prison in BC Supreme Court on Jan. 13 for a 2017 Canada Day long weekend crime spree that involved shooting a fellow gangster in the head.
Olson was convicted alongside Brodie Tyrel Takahashi Robinson in August 2019 in connection with a series of incidents two years prior, which also involved pistol whipping a third man at the Husky station on Lickman Road.
Because of time served leading up to the sentencing, Olson will spend six years and 345 more days in custody.
It was June 30, 2017 when Olson and Robinson were seen on surveillance video with Dane Miller at the Husky. While it was unclear what precipitated the dispute, there was an accusation that the two men attempted to abduct Miller, an act of revenge for an alleged theft from another drug dealer.
Miller was pistol-whipped by Olson, but he managed to escape the altercation in a mini-van. There was a chase, and while driving across the No. 3 Road Highway 1 overpass he was shot in the head.
“Mr. Miller said he was chased by another vehicle over the overpass where he was shot at several times,” Justice Mary Humphries wrote in her decision rendered in BC Supreme Court in New Westminster. “The rear window was shot out and he was hit in the head by a bullet which remains lodged against his skull.”
The victim stopped, wrapped his head in a shirt, called his girlfriend, went home and then to the hospital where he spent the night.
The next day, more drama ensued as Olson was found in possession of a stolen vehicle near the Vedder Canal. He ended up in the water fleeing from a police dog that he fought off. He was arrested by the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team after being found hiding in the bushes.
In addition to the other charges, Olson was initially charged with attempting to kill a police dog, a charge that was later dropped.
READ MORE: Violent crime spree ends in Chilliwack arrest
READ MORE: Two Chilliwack gangsters convicted of shooting a third in the head
Robinson is a local drug dealer and was also convicted of trafficking cocaine in the case. He is, however, far less known to police and the court system than is Olson who has an extensive violent criminal record from his career in the drug trade.
The sentencing judge noted, however, that while Robinson had less of a criminal record, “he expressed no remorse or even acknowledgement for his offences.” For his involvement, Robinson was sentenced in February 2020 to more than six years in prison.
In 2016, Olson was convicted of a 2014 home invasion with another prolific offender where the two men arrived at a Chilliwack home with a shotgun looking for someone named “Gus.” But they were at the wrong residence. The two proceeded to terrorize a 25-year-old man who was home alone in his parents’ house.
Olson’s sentencing on the 2017 Canada Day crime spree had been delayed in part because Crown counsel had originally sought a dangerous offender designation, but that was later taken off the table.
Instead, Crown counsel Henry Waldock was looking for a sentence in the range of 14 years for Olson. Defence was asking for eight years.
READ MORE: Botched home invasion changed lives
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paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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