Accused killer entered notorious Granville SRO under false name in hat, sunglasses before arrest – BC
An accused killer wanted on a Canada-wide warrant walked into a notorious single-room occupancy (SRO) building in Vancouver’s Granville Entertainment District on Dec. 16, 2025, using a false name and wearing a hat and sunglasses, the B.C. government confirmed Wednesday.
The “person in question” entered the Luugat or former Howard Johnson hotel as a guest, the BC Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said in a statement.
Police visited the provincially-owned supportive housing building the same day to review live security camera footage, the ministry said, before returning with a warrant to arrest Jordan Conway.
Conway, 26, had been at large for more than five months before his arrest inside a fourth-floor unit of the building the province purchased for $55 million in 2020.
On Dec. 19, the province said it directed BC Housing to investigate how Conway was able to gain access to the Luugat to make sure policies and procedures are in place to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.
Global News requested an update from the housing ministry on Feb. 9.
Prior to the ministry’s statement Wednesday, B.C.’s Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs said she couldn’t speak to the investigation when asked if it was completed, and directed questions to the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
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Christine Boyle reiterated the province is working to relocate tenants from the Luugat with a goal to close the building, which has seen thousands of police and fire calls and been the subject of numerous street disorder complaints since it was transformed into supportive housing, by the end of June.
“We are working in partnership with the city of Vancouver as we have committed to publicly to help relocate residents from the Luugat to other social and supportive housing in the city of Vancouver,” said Boyle.
B.C.’s public safety ministry confirmed the Luugat investigation is a housing ministry file and it has no involvement with the BC Housing review.
“It just appears that this is a government that isn’t taking this issue seriously, especially when it affects some of the most vulnerable people in this province,” said Claire Rattée, the BC Conservative critic for Mental Health, Addictions & Housing Supports.
“We’ve known for well over a year that this is a ministry that’s been promising that they were going to do a review of supportive housing, and as of yet, we have heard absolutely nothing about that review.”
Conway is accused of killing 69-year-old cab driver Aden Hersi.
Hersi was attacked in his taxi in August 2022 and spent months in the hospital before he died in November 2023 as a result of injuries he sustained in the assault, police said.
Conway was charged with manslaughter in August 2024 and released on bail days later.
Police allege he fled his recovery house in Abbotsford last July, prior to ending up at the Luugat in mid-December.
“It’s very concerning,” said ABC Vancouver city councillor Peter Meiszner. “There’s clearly a gap around security and things like background checks and identifications, who’s coming and going from the building.”
Meiszner said it’s unacceptable that management of the Luugat was unaware of Conway’s presence in the taxpayer-funded building.
“I want to know what security measures, what background checks, what identification is being collected from people that are living in this substandard housing,” Meiszner told Global News in an interview.
According to the province, security measures at the converted hotel include 24/7 staffing, a single main point of entry, security cameras and protocols for all guests to sign in and out at the front door.
BC Housing, the province said, has been working closely with the Luugat’s operator, Community Builders Group, to ensure building access and guest policies are being followed to support building safety.
Guest identity is confirmed through government identification, although exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis the government said, as people in marginalized communities often do not have personal identification cards.
In Conway’s case, staff recorded the guest’s name – which turned out to be fake – and other personal information.
“Supportive housing operators do not have access to police information systems tracking people who are considered dangerous or subject to a warrant for their arrest,” the BC Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said in an email.
It’s unclear how long Conway had been staying at the Luugat, and whether he’d visited the building prior to Dec. 16.
He remains in custody awaiting trial.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
