Subhed: Latest fatality a young man with no criminal links
Photo: Sean Pasha (left) was injured and Jatinder Sandhu (right) killed in the July 23 shooting.
Surrey: The bullets continue to fly in Surrey – and bodies, many of them South Asian, continue to fall.
In the last week alone, there have been two shooting incidents in the city, with one fatality and three injuries.
Jatinder “Michael” Sandhu, 28, was shot dead in a double shooting at a residence in the 14300 block of 90A Avenue just after 10 p.m. last Saturday (July 23) while his friend Sean Pasha was injured in the same incident.
And in the early hours of Thursday morning (July 28), Surrey RCMP came across two people injured in a shooting in the area of 135A Street and 108 Avenue.
The two shootings were the 48th and 49th for this year alone in Surrey. Almost all the shootings have been allegedly linked to ongoing turf wars among drug gangs, many of them involving South Asian youths.
Sadly, Sandhu was by all accounts not involved in any kind of gang or criminal activity, and appears to have been an innocent victim of a targeted shooting – the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said Sandhu may not have been the intended target of the killer or killers who sprayed the vehicle he was in with gunfire about 10:20 p.m. on July 23.
She said the shooting is believed to be part of an ongoing gang conflict involving street-level players in the drug trade. “However, evidence and information obtained thus far suggests the victims may have not been the intended targets,” she said.
She said neither Sandhu nor Pasha, had criminal records, and Sandhu was not “believed to be involved in the current conflict.”
Pasha remains in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
“While the injured male (Pasha) does not possess a criminal record, he is related to an individual involved with the conflict and police continue to look into his direct involvement and/or connections to the current conflict,” Pound said.
She said a suspect was witnessed fleeing the scene in a grey or silver Infiniti SUV.
Pound said it’s important that people know if their friends and relatives are involved in the drug trade or gangs. “At the very least know who you’re hanging out with because it (a shooting victim) could be you,” she said.
From 2008 through 2012, police issued several extraordinary public warnings to tell people they could be at risk if they associated with several specific gang members involved in a violent conflict.
Sandhu’s uncle, Balkar, told local media that Sandhu had just gone for a coffee with his friend Pasha at the latter’s house after dinner with his parents. He said both men were discussing their respective weddings on the driveway of Pasha’s home when they were attacked.
Pasha’s family, including his eight-week-old niece, were inside the house at the time of the shooting. Pasha was shot on the shoulder and survived. Sandhu, however, was not so lucky, and took a bullet in the head. He died on Sunday morning.
Balkar said Sandhu always made his family proud and was gearing up to get his Real Estate license.
The IHIT continues to investigate the shooting. Extensive canvassing in the area has been conducted and information from the public continues to be processed.
In the Thursday (July 28) incident, at approximately 3:10 a.m., RCMP officers came across a male suffering from a gunshot wound in the 135A Street and 108 Avenue area.
Additional RCMP officers responded to the area immediately and located a second victim nearby. The initial investigation located a firearm nearby. Both victims had suffered non-life threatening injuries and were taken to hospital.
