The president of a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey was shot and killed Sunday night, according to community reports.
In a release, the Surrey RCMP says it was called to reports of a shooting in the parking lot of a gurdwara on 120th Street near 70 Avenue just before 8:30 p.m.
Mounties say when officers arrived, they found a man inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds. He died of his injuries at the scene.
Footage posted to social media shows the victim slumped over in the driver’s seat of a pick-up truck. There’s blood on his shirt and there are bullets on the ground. Another piece of footage shows a car on fire soon after, but there’s no police confirmation the two scenes are linked.
Mourners and police gathered outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey after a temple leader is shot dead last night. He’s been widely identified as president Hardeep Singh Nijjar. RCMP have not confirmed ID, possible suspects, motive or any arrests. Waiting for and update. pic.twitter.com/uaWYpr9zpu
— Mike Lloyd ☕️ (@llikemoyd) June 19, 2023
The RCMP says the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has now taken over the investigation, and police are still in the early phases — gathering evidence and canvassing for witnesses.
“At this early stage of the investigation, any possible motives for the shooting are not yet known. Police are still working to determine possible suspect descriptions from multiple witnesses who were in the area,” Mounties said.
“Surrey RCMP is aware of social media posts that are speculating on the identity of the victim, but [we] are not in a position to confirm the victim’s identity at this very early time.”
According to multiple social media posts, including one from the Sikh Community of BC, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was the victim.
“The BC Sikh community has suffered an immeasurable loss tonight at the hands of spineless cowards. Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, fearless activist and tireless president of @SurreyGurdwara has been shot dead,” the Sikh Community of BC wrote on Twitter.
Witness heard 8 to 10 gunshots while playing soccer nearby
CityNews’ sister station OMNI News spoke to a witness Sunday night, who wants to remain anonymous due to safety reasons, who was near the gurdwara playing soccer with his friends around the time of the shooting.
“Around 8:30 we heard what we thought were fireworks. But one of the guys we were playing with said, ‘No, I don’t think those are fireworks something happened, and let’s go look.’ Then we saw some guys running [in] our direction,” the witness said.
“Some of our friends followed the men that were running. I came to check on the vehicle that had been shot. And I saw all the glass broken on the driver’s side. You could see a lifeless body. There were gunshot wounds to his head.”
The witness says while police cruisers arrived about seven minutes after the first 911 calls, the ambulance arrived to the scene around 25 minutes later.
“We hear around eight to 10 gunshots,” the witness said. “The friends that followed them went towards 68 Avenue where the (alleged hitmen’s) car was parked. Someone had told them the car was there for 2 hours. It was a small silver-coloured vehicle, I think. Can’t say for sure.”
The witness says Nijjar was always doing community service, and “did a great job.”
“You never know what can happen. We just came to play soccer. We’re at a place of worship, you’re supposed to feel safe,” he said.
Mourners gathered Sunday night outside the Gurdwara, with many still at the scene early Monday morning holding yellow Khalistan flags.
Sikh leader had controversial past
As the wait continues for IHIT to provide an update on this high-profile killing, there are reports out of India that Nijjar was a wanted man in that country.
The Hindustan Times is one of several outlets reporting that the National Investigation Agency had posted a reward worth more than $1 million CAD to capture Nijjar, in connection to a conspiracy to commit terrorist acts in India.
Nijjar was an outspoken activist and said to be a pro-Khalistan, a Sikh separatist movement, leader.
The Times of India (TOI) reports in 2016, Nijjar was accused of running a terror training camp in Mission, B.C., to help carry out potential attacks in Punjab. The TOI added he previously called those allegations “factually baseless and fabricated.”
The TOI also reports Nijjar had written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal Liberal leader to help clear his name.
Nijjar was also widely said to be associated with a separatist organization called Sikhs for Justice, which has been banned in India for the last four years. His name was also on a list of designated terrorists released by the Indian government.
In a statement to CityNews, the CFSEU-BC — the province’s integrated anti-gang agency — says there is no information at this time that the killing is gang related.
–With files from Mike Lloyd and Rajgaurav Shergill, OMNI News
