AFTER pleading guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in the July 2022 shooting death of Ripudaman Singh Malik, 75, in Surrey, the two killers, Jose Lopez and Tanner Fox, duked it out in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Monday.
Sheriffs intervened and led them out of court in handcuffs.
The agreed statement of facts revealed that Fox and Lopez had been hired to kill Malik.
However, who hired them remains a mystery.
In a statement, Malik’s family said in a statement: “Until the parties responsible for hiring them and directing this assassination are brought to justice, the work remains incomplete.”
They added: “To Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez we say: You have taken a good first step in taking responsibility for your actions. Now take the next step and cooperate with the RCMP in bringing those that hired you to justice.”
The family also noted: “The weeks leading up to the scheduled trial has brought the trauma of our loss to the forefront. While we are grateful that the shooters are being brought to justice, we know that nothing will erase the pain that we have gone through losing a family member in this way.”
MALIK was shot on July 14, 2022, at a business complex at 8236 128 Street where his business Papillon Eastern Imports Ltd is located. First responders found him suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite life-saving interventions, Malik died at scene. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was called in to investigate.
Homicide investigators identified a suspect vehicle used in the shooting. A white Honda CRV was captured on CCTV hours before the shooting. This white Honda CRV was then found in flames at 122 Street and 82 Avenue.
Fox, then 21, and Lopez, then 23, were arrested on July 22, 2022, for Malik’s murder.
Sources told The VOICE at the time that neither of the two had known gang affiliations and it seemed that the two were hired to kill Malik. Both of them had a history of run-ins with police.
The VOICE wrote in July 2022: “Earlier this year, sources told The VOICE that Malik may have been targeted because he reportedly wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his “deep heartfelt gratitude” for the unprecedented positive steps taken by his government for the Sikh community, as reported by the Hindustan Times newspaper of India on January 18.”
He also “showed concerns at an “orchestrated campaign” by some misguided members of the Sikh community against the Modi government and India,” the newspaper said.
READ ALSO:
