(Surrey) The leader of a Sikh temple charged with conspiracy to murder and terrorism in India was shot and killed outside his temple in Surrey, British Columbia, in what the commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment ( RCMP) called it a “disgusting” attack.
Surrey RCMP said in a news release that the attack happened around 8.30pm on Sunday and the victim died at the scene.
Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards invites anyone with knowledge of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder to come forward as a witness.
The general secretary of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Society for his part said that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was alone in his van when he was attacked on Sunday evening as he left the parking lot of the place of worship.
Authorities said they were looking for suspects and were trying to confirm the motive for the homicide.
PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was alone in his van when he was attacked on Sunday evening as he left the parking lot of the place of worship.
“We are not going to let people come into this community and do these things anywhere, let alone in a place of worship,” Mr. Edwards said at a press conference Monday, during which he called the attack “disgusting” and “appalling”.
The Assistant Commissioner claimed that the only possible response to this act should be to present evidence to help solve the case.
“We will manage fear by uniting,” he said at a press conference. Everyone is coming together and together we will say that we are not going to accept this violence. »
A video circulating on social media shows a person slumped in the driver’s seat of a gray van, the windows smashed. Another video of the same scene from a different angle shows the vehicle surrounded by police cars.
Another video posted on Twitter about 90 minutes after the attack showed a large crowd gathered outside the temple, the scene lit by the flashing lights of police cars.
Police set up a perimeter in part of Guru Nanak Way, a private road leading to the parking lot. Several members of the community tried to approach the scene, but were turned away by the police.
Sergeant Tim Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said he was aware the shooting death of the senior Sikh community member sparked speculation about the motive for the attack.
He said investigators will “let the evidence lead them”, so community involvement by speaking out or providing vehicle camera footage will be crucial to solving the case.
“There are a lot of vehicles recording, even if the vehicle is turned off,” Pierotti said. So, please check that the dash cam footage is reported to us if you have something that has been recorded. »
Police confirmed they were aware of a burning vehicle found in Coquitlam shortly after the shooting, but have yet to definitively link the vehicle to the case.
At a press conference on Monday, Prime Minister David Eby called the shooting a heinous crime.
“Like many people in Surrey and many British Columbians, I am deeply troubled that someone was murdered in our community on the grounds of a place of worship in front of many witnesses,” he said. .
Activism
Bhupinder Singh Hothi said Mr Nijjar had received death threats because of his support for an independent Sikh state in Khalistan, India, but the shooting will not deter those who share his beliefs.
Mr. Hothi said he did not know why Mr. Nijjar had been shot, but that he had already been threatened for his defense of Khalistan. “He was raising his voice for his country,” he said.
In India, Mr. Nijjar was charged with terrorism-related and insurrection offences.
India’s national investigative agency had issued an indictment last year accusing Mr Nijjar of conspiring to assassinate Hindu priest Kamaldeep Sharma, who the agency said was killed by a “terrorist gang”. in a village in Jalandhar, Punjab.
In a video posted by the temple on its Facebook page, an unidentified man said in Punjabi that Mr Nijjar had been “martyred”.
“Mr. Nijjar has been silenced, but his voice will live forever. We will become his voice,” the man said.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada, a non-profit organization that claims to represent the interests of Canadian Sikhs, issued a press release on Monday calling the killing an “assassination.”
The organization maintained that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the police “were aware of the threat to Mr. Nijjar as well as other Sikh activists in Canada”.
“The fact that he was murdered in this way is a failure of these bodies to provide protection to someone they knew would be targeted,” the organization’s chairman, Tejinder Singh Sidhu, said in a statement. the press release.
“The role of India’s foreign interference must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible for this crime must be brought to justice,” he added.
The press release says Mr. Nijjar denied being involved in any criminal activity.