Indo-Canadian killed in targeted shooting in Vancouver | World News

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

Police were called to the scene at around 9pm (local time) on Friday following reports of “two men shot inside a vehicle which then collided with two other vehicles”.

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

While police are investigating the killing overnight, they said they believe the “shooting was targeted and there is no ongoing risk to public safety at this time.” No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, the press release said.

Shortly after the shooting, a vehicle was also set on fire near the shooting, a tactic associated with gang attacks. However, investigators were working to determine if the fire was related to the shooting.

Kim Bolan, a veteran crime reporter for the Vancouver Sun, wrote on X that the gangster wounded in the shooting appeared in court Tuesday after fleeing from police while on probation last summer.

Johal appeared to have a gang history. In May 2018, VPD and British Columbia’s Combined Force Special Enforcement Unit announced they had arrested seven individuals and laid 20 criminal charges as part of Project Temper, which was aimed at combating “an increase in targeted violence in the Lower Mainland,” the region that includes Vancouver and its suburbs such as Surrey.

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

In July 2021, VPD announced that Johal had been convicted, as a total of 27 convictions were announced under the multi-jurisdictional Task Force Tourniquet, which includes 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 in a statement at the time.