Jason Glover is pictured in this undated photo with his two little cousins Laura and Isaiah who both called him "Unky Jake" according to his Aunt Cheryl Johnson. "He rarely put them down that day and often carried them both," says Johnson of her late nephew.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Cheryl Johnson

KAMLOOPS — It had been years since Jason Glover’s mom, Jennifer, saw her son in person but as soon as she got the call she immediately decided to make the trip to Kamloops from Prince Rupert.

This wouldn’t be a reunion. It wasn’t that kind of call.

He was at Royal Inland Hospital. All she knew was that he was shot and he was dying.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she says, nearly two months later. “We were all upset, scared and we didn’t know what we were going to see.”

Just a week before, Jennifer had had spoken to her son over the phone. She had been trying to get a hold of her son to send him some money. It was a short conversation, Jason simply told her he didn’t want it.

“He just said ‘Oh I am fine, mom, I am good,’” she says. She had no idea this would be the last time they spoke.

After learning of Jason’s condition, Jennifer, her husband and her youngest son started the nearly 15-hour trip to Kamloops. When they finally arrived after two days of driving, the family had more questions than answers.

When she spoke to police, Jennifer was told her son had been shot, but wasn’t told why or if he was with anyone at the time.

Police stationed outside an apartment in the Kamloops neighbourhood of Brocklehurst on Feb. 15, 2019.

(SHELBY THEVENOT / iNFOnews.ca)

They spoke with a friend of Jason’s who was visiting at the hospital. The family says they learned Jason was with his live-in girlfriend, Kelly Marie Callfas, when they were both shot at a residence on Tranquille Road on Feb.15.

Jennifer says she learned the assailants were after Callfas and Jason just happened to be there.

“He was just trying to save her, that’s what they figured,” she says.

Jason died from his injuries a few days later in hospital. Callfas’s condition still remains unknown.

While she was in Kamloops, Jennifer says she visited the apartment where her son had been gunned down to collect some of his items.

The vision still haunts her, she says.

“There was blood all around, I was trying to figure out what happened,” she says. “I was just worried about how he suffered.”

Two people were arrested for the murder and attempted murder of her son and Callfas. Police arrested Hugh Alexander McIntosh and Gordie Wayne Braaten, both men currently remain in custody awaiting bail in Kamloops.

Police haven’t released much information about the incident to the public other than stating both victims were participants in the local drug trade in a press release days after the shooting.

Jennifer says she wasn’t aware of her son’s involvement in the city’s drug trade, but she has learned of several rumours, something that has made it harder for her to grieve her son’s death.

“I don’t want to talk about it because there are so many rumours and stuff about it,” she says. “They’re saying he belonged to a biker gang and all this stuff and I was like ‘No, he didn’t… that’s crazy.’”

Growing up near Prince Rupert, Jennifer says Jason was a friendly kid but would often find himself in trouble.

Jason (left) is pictured with his Aunt Cheryl and brother Michael.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Cheryl Johnson

“He had (Attention Deficit Disorder), so he was a handful,” she says.

He loved animals, and would often bring home stray cats. He also loved to be out on the water, his mom recalls.

When he was a teenager, Jason and about five other kids ended up beating up another guy to death, his mom says.

“He got into trouble, he went to juvenile court,” she says. “He wasn’t in jail for very long, they got manslaughter or something.”

A childhood friend of Jason’s who now resides in Terrace and asked not to be named says she remembers Jason as a kid who “liked to live dangerously”.

The woman describes Jason as a good kid that “needed more guidance”. He had recently accepted her Facebook friend request shortly before he was murdered.

Jason Glover is pictured in this photo uploaded to his Facebook account on Dec. 16, 2014.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Jason Glover

“It’s never easy to find out that someone you knew has been taken so tragically,” she says.

Jason has a lengthy criminal past dating back to the early 2000s. Most of them took place in Kelowna and some in Kamloops. The convictions consist of numerous probation breaches, assault, driving with a suspended licence, possession of a controlled substance, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and escape from lawful custody. The manslaughter conviction would be on his youth record. He had no convictions or charges for trafficking. 

His girlfriend, Callfas, also has a criminal record dating back to 2006. Some of her convictions include possession of a controlled substance, trafficking a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking, and a few breaches.

According to Jennifer, the two had been sharing Callfas's cellphone. That was the only way she knew how to get a hold of her son. The two had a little dog together and Jason would often walk it out near their home, Jennifer says.

He would often send his mom photos of the dog.

"He just loved to walk his dog at night time," she says. 

One of the alleged murder suspects, Braaten, has connections to Red Scorpion gangsters, according to a report by the Vancouver Sun. A man with the name Mohamed Amarhoun, known to have ties to the Red Scorpions in the Lower Mainland was charged in 2011 alongside Braaten for an assault in Kamloops, according to court documents.

Since returning back to Prince Rupert, the mother says they are still grieving the loss of Jason. They still haven't set a date for his celebration of life.

She plans on returning back to Kamloops once court proceedings begin in her son's murder.

For now, she says she is trying to not feel anger towards the two men accused of murdering her son. So far, it hasn't been easy.

"I just don't want to hate them so much," she says. "There's a lot of things I want to say... I know Jason wouldn't want us to suffer, but we are."

Jason is pictured with his grandfather and mother, Jennifer in this undated photo.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Cheryl Johnson

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