VANCOUVER Police are investigating an overnight homicide in the city’s Sunset neighbourhood.
Officers were called to East 63rd Avenue and Inverness Street just before 9 p.m. on Friday, July 26 for reports of two men shot in a vehicle, which then collided with two other vehicles. One man was taken to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
The second man, Hitkaran Johal, 25, died at the scene of the collision.
A vehicle was set on fire near East 63rd Avenue and Prince Edward Street shortly after the shooting. Investigators are working to determine if this fire was connected to the shooting.
No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing. Investigators believe this shooting was targeted and there is no ongoing public safety risk at this time.
Anyone with information is asked to call VPD’s Homicide Unit at 604-717-2500.
IN May 2018, Vancouver Police and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) announced that they had seized four guns, arrested seven individuals, and recommended 20 criminal charges as part of Project Temper – a combined effort to tackle an increase in targeted violence in the Lower Mainland.
“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,” said Vancouver Police Superintendent Mike Porteous.
Hitkaran Johal, then 19, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit arson.
In July 2021, Vancouver Police announced that Johal was one of the seven who had been convicted.
The others were Walta Abay, Taqdir Gill, Sahajdeep Khunkhun, Jordan Leauli, Pawandeep Chopra and Simrat Lally.
ANOTHER member of this group — Pawandeep Chopra — was shot on the night of November 3, 2022. Surrey RCMP were notified of a patient suffering from gunshot injuries at Surrey Memorial Hospital and found Chopra, then 24, in critical condition. Two days later, he succumbed to his injuries.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) took conduct of the investigation and as a result of extensive work completed by IHIT in partnership with Surrey RCMP’s Serious Crimes Unit, on October 3, 2023, charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder were laid against three men: 24-year-old Lascel Tyndale of North York, Ontario; 22-year-old Segovia-Sanhueza of Brampton, Ontario; and 25-year-old Terry McDonald of Abbotsford, B.C.
“This was a complex investigation that spanned multiple provinces,” said IHIT Sgt. Timothy Pierotti at the time.
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