‘No angel’: Whiskey Creek victim Shawn McGrath’s father believes son was target of killings
Posted June 6, 2023 10:23 am.
Last Updated June 6, 2023 10:38 am.
John McGrath, aka ‘PapaJohn’, has a good idea of why his son, Shawn, was killed and who is responsible. But he wonders if the authorities care enough to find out. He is speaking out for the first time in this week’s episode of Whiskey Creek.
John is closing in on 80 and is in poor health. Once a convicted drug trafficker, he now lives in a pretty mobile home park in the Qualicum area with his tiny dog, Diego. Violet McGrath, John’s wife of 44 years, died of ALS. A picture of his late wife hangs above the door.
“She was from a very prim and proper family. Very religious. No smoking. No Drinking. No drugs,” John recalled.
A family photo of the McGrath family. Shawn McGrath was one of the Whiskey Creek killing victims on Vancouver Island in 2020. Pictured: Tony, Tina, Violet, John Sr., John Jr., and Shawn. (Submitted by John McGrath)
The two met and married in Newfoundland. John’s work as a miner takes him to Sudbury, Ont., where Shawn is born in 1968. They have other children too and raise a family together, eventually heading west to B.C.
John sifts through family photos recalling his deceased son’s life.
Shawn McGrath (left) is pictured as a child with his sister, Tina (centre), and brother, John (right), during communion as children. Decades later, Shawn would become one of the Whiskey Creek killing victims on Vancouver Island in 2020. (Submitted by John McGrath)
Shawn is good at sports, especially hockey, which he begins playing at the age of five. Shawn loves the water, and as an adult owns a couple of boats.
As a young man, Shawn is living in the Lower Mainland of B.C. and beginning a family of his own when tragedy upends his world. Shawn’s four-year-old boy, Shane, dies in a car crash. After that, John Sr. says Shawn was never the same.
Shawn’s nickname is ‘Crazy,’ a name allegedly born the day his son died.
The obituary clipping for Shane McGrath, Whiskey Creek victim Shawn McGrath’s young son. (Clipped from Newspaper.com)
“He was really gone. When he lost his son in a car accident, he went downhill altogether. He’d get drunk and he’d jump out in front of cars. He wanted to go with him,” John recalled.
Shawn McGrath spends most of his adult life in and out of jail, a repeat offender racking up a lengthy criminal record of theft and drug charges. Shawn is living in a trailer in the woods near Whiskey Creek in the fall of 2020.
John McGrath believes his son stole money from a drug dealer.
“He had the money. I know he had the money. I know he took the money. I know it was this guy’s money. Now who did he hire? And how much did he pay? That’s, that’s what they’ve got to find out. It sounds logical to me,” the father said.
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John Mcgrath knows his son was “no angel” but maintains there should be justice for Shawn and the other victims at Whiskey Creek.
“A life’s a life. I don’t care who they are, what they are, or anything. It’s life. Somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter, you know? Someone’s suffering,” John McGrath said.
Contacted for an update on the case, the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit advised there is no update on the matter to provide at this time.
John McGrath is not holding his breath.
“It’s just kind of sunk in that they don’t care. I would love to see them caught before somebody else gets shot. If they have done it once and they’re getting paid for it? They’ll do it again eventually. That’s the way I look at it,” John said of whoever is responsible.
Whiskey Creek, an Island Crime podcast.
If you have information about the 2020 Whiskey Creek murders, you’re asked to call the tip and information line at (250) 380-6211.
‘Whiskey Creek’ is a series for Rogers Frequency Network. You can listen to this series and other Island Crime episodes on all podcast platforms.
Rogers is the parent company of this station and the Frequency Podcast Network.
