SURREY RCMP announced on Saturday that an arrest has been made and charges have been laid in a historic homicide dating back to 2006.
During the early morning hours of October 14, 2006, Mahdi Halane was shot in the neck, following a confrontation at a gas station located in the 12800 block of 96 Avenue. Halane’s spinal cord was severed and he was left a quadriplegic until his death in 2012, which was attributed to the 2006 shooting.
Surrey RCMP Unsolved Homicide Unit’s (UHU) investigation into this matter has led to the arrest of Fushpinder Singh Brar, 30, of Surrey. Brar was arrested without incident on January 23 in Vancouver and remains in custody. Charges of manslaughter have been approved against him.
Brar, a longshoreman, was arrested in North Vancouver (see photo).
“Our officers routinely revisit and continue to investigate cases in an effort to move them forward.” said Insp. Manny Mann from the Surrey RCMP Major Crime Section. “This latest arrest, and charge of manslaughter, is a direct result of investigators following up on leads and new information received, and we hope it will help bring some closure to the family.”
Investigators are appealing for additional information on this incident as they believe there are other individuals involved who have yet to come forward or be identified.
Anyone with more information regarding this case is asked to contact Sgt. Mike Hall at 504-599-7634 or, if they wish to remain anonymous, CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit www.solvecrime.ca.
ACCORDING to a report in a local newspaper, there was an altercation at the after-hours window of the Chevron gas station at 96th Avenue and 128th Street in the early morning hours of October 14, 2006, between some of Mahdi’s black friends when a South Asian male in the lineup spat on the ground and some of that hit the pants of one of the black males. The South Asian male allegedly used the N-word on him and the black male punched him.
The South Asian male and his friends chased the black males through the neighbourhood, allegedly shouting the N-word, but lost track of them. The black males then called Mahdi who was driving around with two others to help them. The six males met and then the first group headed back to the gas station. While Mahdi’s group was standing at the roadside, two South Asians drove up to them. When the first group saw the South Asians, they ran back to Mahdi. The South Asian males allegedly spoke of getting a gun and drove off.
The first group of black males then went off and Mahdi and his other friends drove away. As they were driving, the South Asian males in their car spotted them and gave chase. Shots were fired at the car in which Mahdi was a passenger.
Mahdi was shot in the neck and the bullet smashed his vertebrae. He spent the next six years paralyzed in bed with a ventilation machine breathing for him. He passed away on March 25, 2012. He was only 24.
Mahdi graduated from Queen Elizabeth secondary school in 2006 and was working at a call center to save money for college.