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Canada police find lead linked to shooting at house of temple head’s son
Police have identified a vehicle that may have been involved in the shooting at the residence of the son of the president of a local temple in the town of Surrey in British Columbia on December 27.
Police have identified a vehicle that may have been involved in the shooting at the residence of the son of the president of a local temple in the town of Surrey in British Columbia on December 27.
In a release on Friday, the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that its “General Investigation Unit has been working to advance the investigation and a vehicle of interest has been identified.”
The vehicle is believed to be a blue, 4-door hatchback, Mitsubishi Mirage GT or SE between the model years 2017 and 2019, the release stated.
Surrey RCMP spokesperson Corporal Sarbjit Sangha asked for assistance from the public, calling for anyone who had witnessed the vehicle or had information about it to contact them.
The incident occurred in the early hours of December 24, with nearly a dozen shots fired at the residence of the son of Satish Kumar, president of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey. Police responded at around 8 am.
Kumar is convening a community forum in Surrey on Saturday to address the issue. “The community is shaken and the forum is to discuss what is going on with extortion and driveby shootings in our region,” he said. He said politicians including British Columbia’s Attorney General Niki Sharma, MPs, MLAs, Surrey’s Mayor and members of law enforcement are expected to participate at the forum.
Extortion attempts have become rampant in the Metro Vancouver region, with businesspersons receiving threatening letters, believed to be from gangs with links to India, particularly Punjab.
At the same time, the temple headed by Kumar has also been targeted multiple times by pro-Khalistan elements last year. The Surrey temple has come in the crosshairs of the Khalistani elements twice in recent times, with posters targeting India’s seniormost diplomats pasted to its gate and walls. One person, as yet unidentified, was arrested by the Surrey RCMP in August. However, temple members were unwilling to link that friction to the firing at this time.
The temple had hosted a Consular camp organised by India’s Consulate in Vancouver on November 26 and members had countered a protest called by the secessionist group Sikhs for Justice or SFJ.
SFJ’s protest was linked to the killing of its principal in the province Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in Surrey. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had stated in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and Nijjar’s murder.
While Kumar said the firing at his son’s residence could be an extortion attempt, he said neither of them had been contacted for that purpose prior to or after the incident. “We don’t know what the motive was and no one has taken responsibility,” he said.
