The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has identified the man killed in a shooting Saturday night in Abbotsford as 19-year-old Gagandeep Dhaliwal.
Cpl. Frank Jang of IHIT said Dhaliwal was known to police, and his killing is believed to be targeted. Investigators are working to establish the motive, Jang said.
“We are releasing Mr. Dhaliwal’s name in an effort to determine his activities and who he may have had contact with prior to his death,” he said.
Jang said a second man injured in the shooting is expected to recover from his injuries.
Police received reports of shots fired just after 11:30 p.m. at a house in the 2000 block of Wilerose Street – located between Brundige Avenue and Kay Avenue near Godson Elementary and south of Mill Lake Park.
Patrol officers with the Abbotsford Police Department arrived on scene and located two injured men. They were taken to hospital, where Dhaliwal was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
The home was cordoned off by officers following the incident, as police scanned the area, including with a helicopter.
However, neighbours said a person walked into the residence and began shooting.
“I heard three shots and then I heard screaming, and then about five seconds later, I heard some car just peel out of the street,” said one neighbour, who said he then saw people “all over the street screaming and yelling.”
“I came out and asked if anybody needed help, and I couldn’t get an answer out of anybody.”
A property title search of the residence where the shooting occurred indicates that the owner is Gurcharan Dhaliwal. The three-storey 6,700-square-foot home was built in 2016 and listed for sale for almost $1.6 million in July 2017 before being taken off the market in December, according to online records.
Gurcharan became the subject of controversy in 2009, when he ran as a B.C. Conservative candidate in the provincial election in the Abbotsford South riding.
It was revealed at that time that a man with the same name had been convicted in 2004 of possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and received a 12-month conditional sentence.
Gurcharan failed to respond to numerous requests to speak to a reporter in 2009, but a Black Press investigation revealed that he had lived at two Abbotsford residential addresses listed on the court sentencing report, at the approximate time that the offence, conviction and sentencing occurred.
He was working in the trucking industry at the time, but the property title search indicates that he is now on disability.
IHIT is urging anyone with information about the shooting to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448, email ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Dhaliwal’s killing occurred just over two weeks after Sukhpreet Grewal, 32, was found dead inside his home on Consort Court on July 20. Police have not yet indicated how Grewal died.
Abbotsford has had two other homicides this year. Lovepreet (Jason) Dhaliwal died in a targeted shooting Jan. 19 on Promontory Court, and Tanner Henderson, 20, died after an apparent accidental shooting July 1 at a home on Birch Street.
