'I can say that our victims were true victims that had no criminal history. But our suspects had a criminal history,' RCMP Major Crimes Staff Sergeant John Brown said during a press conference about the killing of 22-year-old Birinder Singh.Amanda Erickson/The Globe and Mail
RCMP say they have ruled out racial hatred as the motivation behind the fatal daytime shooting of a young Sikh man on the province’s busiest highway two weeks ago.
“I can tell you with certainty, our investigation has shown this is absolutely not racially motivated,” RCMP Major Crimes Staff Sergeant John Brown said Wednesday during a press conference at RCMP Headquarters in Edmonton. “We investigated that portion of the file very thoroughly, and we came to the conclusion that it absolutely had nothing to do with that.”
Staff Sgt. Brown said police have also ruled out road rage, robbery and gang initiation as motivations in the killing of 22-year-old Birinder Singh, a Punjabi man who had recently finished college in Ontario before moving to Edmonton.
“I am aware of a great deal of speculation regarding potential motivations in such senseless crime and tragedy,” Staff Sgt. Brown said. “An important part of any homicide investigation is developing an understanding of such motivations. Not undermining the court process, I am limited to what I can say at this time, but what I can say is that the RCMP do have some understanding of the motivations in this case.”
“I can’t say that it’s completely random, but the victims are completely random,“ said Staff Sgt. Brown. He said that mistaken identity is “one of the things RCMP are looking into.”
22-year-old Birinder Singh, seen in this undated photo.World Sikh Organization/The Canadian Press
Mr. Singh was driving south in his Honda Civic toward Calgary with two friends just before 3 p.m. on March 14, when he was shot in the neck from inside a passing F-150 pickup truck, according to police. He and his friends were able to steer the car safely to the side of the road. Mr. Singh died at the scene.
Two men, Jimmy Gassner, 18, and Deon Libsekal, 23, have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in Mr. Singh’s death. Staff Sgt. Brown said there are no other suspects. Both accused have previous criminal records and remain in custody.
When asked whether the shooting was gang related, Staff Sgt. Brown said: “I can say that our victims were true victims that had no criminal history. But our suspects had a criminal history.”
Mr. Libsekal, the driver of the truck, faces an additional charge of accessory to murder.
Jaskaran Sandhu, president of the Alberta chapter of the World Sikh Organization, said Mr. Singh was on his way to see the mountains for the first time to celebrate his birthday when he was killed. He and his friends left Edmonton just after 2. p.m., heading south on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.
Mr. Sandhu said everyone in the car was wearing a turban.
Witnesses told police that a dirty pickup truck pulled up next to Mr. Singh’s car at about 2:50 p.m., and that people in the truck made what appeared to be peace signs with their fingers. People in Mr. Singh’s vehicle returned the peace sign.
Mr. Singh was then shot through the window and the pickup truck sped away, according to police.
Staff Sgt. Brown said there had been no earlier interaction between the people or the vehicles. “They previously had no knowledge of each other until they came upon each other driving south on the highway.”
“And then, very quickly, two shots were fired,” he said.
Initially investigated as a possible hate crime, the brazen daytime shooting has rattled many in the South Asian community in Alberta. But Staff Sgt. Brown said while the motive remains under investigation, police are certain the shooting “had nothing to do with any type of racial bias or motivation against the Sikh community whatsoever.” He noted that one of the men accused in the shooting, Mr. Libsekal, is not white.
He said his message to the Sikh community is that the shooting is not part of a broader pattern or the beginning of a pattern.
“This is a one-off event,” he said.
-With a report from the Canadian Press