‘I just miss him’: Family, friends honour victim of Edmonton Mac’s murders

EDMONTON — A funeral service was held Thursday evening for one of the two men killed in two separate shootings at Edmonton Mac’s convenience stores in December.

The service for Karanpal Bhangu began at 7 p.m. at Park Memorial, located at 9709 – 111 Ave.

Bhangu’s mother, sister and cousin were at the service; they arrived in Edmonton from India earlier this week. Bhangu’s wife, Kiran Bhangu, was also at the service.

“He was a very, very loveable guy; very pleasant, very educated guy,” Azambir Hundal, Bhangu’s cousin, said.

“I just miss him.”

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Bhangu was one of two Mac’s store employees gunned down in armed robberies on Friday, Dec. 18.

At approximately 3:30 a.m. the 35-year-old was fatally shot while working at the store on 82 Street and 32 Avenue. Just 14 minutes later, at a different Mac’s store near 108 Street and 61 Avenue, Ricky Massin Cenabre was killed.

A memorial service for Cenabre was held in late-December.

READ MORE: ‘We lost a friend’: Funeral held for Mac’s murder victim

Though he is mourning his loss, Hundal hopes that change can come from this tragedy.

“Whatever happened here in Canada is very tragic and very unfortunate. And I would like to say that people who work at nighttime at the stores, they should have more security. They should change their policies, they should have a better insurance policy.

“People who are working at nighttime in the stores, they are also human beings, right?”

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Bhangu’s wife, Kiran, works as a Kindergarten teacher at Progressive Academy. The couple has a son named Royce.

David Eifert, the principal of Progressive Academy, told Global News in December Kiran has been in Canada for about four years and was elated when she was able to bring her husband and son to Edmonton last August.

READ MORE: Edmonton school rallies to support family of murdered Mac’s clerk

Three people, including one youth, were charged with two counts each of first-degree murder in the deaths. Colton Steinhauer, 27, and Laylin Delorne, 24, and a 13-year-old accused in the case, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, have all made two court appearances.