Indo-Canadian killed in targeted shooting in Vancouver

In a release issued on Saturday, Vancouver Police Department (VPD) identified the deceased a Hitkaran Johal, who died at the scene of the collision.

Police were called in at around 9pm (local time) on Friday over reports of “two men shot in a vehicle, which then collided with two other vehicles”.

One person was taken to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

As police probe the overnight homicide, they said they believed the “shooting was targeted and there is no ongoing public safety risk at this time”. No arrests have been made as yet and the investigation is ongoing, the release said.

A vehicle was also set ablaze in the vicinity of shooting soon after that occurred, which is a tactic associated with gangland hits. However, investigators were working to ascertain whether the fire was connected to the shooting.

The outlet Vancouver Sun’s veteran crime correspondent Kim Bolan posted on X that the gangster injured in the shooting was in court on Tuesday after fleeing from police last summer while on parole.

Johal appeared to have a gang history. In May 2018, VPD and the Combined Force Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia announced it had arrested seven persons and sought 20 criminal charges as part of Project Temper, which was aimed at countering “an increase in targeted violence in the Lower Mainland”, the region which includes Vancouver and suburbs like Surrey.

Among those arrested was Johal, then 19, on charges related to conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit arson. “Project Temper, a gang violence suppression operation, has resulted in the dismantling of the Gill Group. This violent crime group was comprised of several individuals including its leader, Taqdir Gill,” says VPD’s then Superintendent Mike Porteous said at the time.

In July 2021, VPD announced that Johal had been convicted, as 27 total convictions were announced under the multi-jurisdictional Task Force Tourniquet which included Project Temper. “The men convicted as a result of Task Force Tourniquet were significant players in the gang conflict between March 2017 and August 2018,” VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said at the time, in a statement.