Known high-level gang member Harpreet Singh Uppal, 41, and his son Gavin Uppal, 11, were both deliberately gunned down last week in a southeast Edmonton gas station parking lot, autopsy results confirmed.
The Edmonton Police Service released the results from the medical examiner on Wednesday, which found that in both cases, the cause of death was gunshot wounds and the manner of death was a homicide.
No arrests have been made in their deaths at the Petro-Canada and A&W near 50th Street and Ellerslie Road on Nov. 9, which police said was a targeted attack on the father, in which the son was also deliberately killed upon being discovered in his father’s vehicle.
A friend of Gavin’s who was also in the vehicle managed to get away and was not physically hurt.
Police said the two boys had just gone inside the A&W, which shares space with the Petro-Can gas station, before the shooting.
This past weekend, police released an image and video of the suspects and the getaway vehicle — a stolen black 2012 BMW X6 SUV — used in the brazen noon-hour shooting.
Officers said the suspects arrived at the Harvest Pointe shopping complex the SUV. Two people exited the vehicle, ran toward Uppal’s white SUV, fired their weapons and then fled the scene.
Shortly afterwards, police were notified of a vehicle fire on a rural gravel road to the south of the scene. A burnt-out vehicle was found on 34th Street/Range Road 240, just south of 41 Avenue Southwest/ Township Road 512.
The EPS homicide section continues to investigate and is encouraging anyone who recognizes the vehicle or suspects in the video clip (below) to come forward.
Likewise, investigators continue to ask any witnesses or individuals with security or dash camera footage from the area at the time to contact police.
Uppal was a high-level gang member involved in the drug trade, police said. There had been previous attempts on his life: two years ago, Uppal was shot while having dinner with his family at a Royal Pizza restaurant.
Police are certain the shooting had to do with drugs and gangs but the exact motivation for the shooting — whether retribution or a turf war — wasn’t immediately clear.
Investigators believe his son was not mistakenly caught in the line of fire last week, but instead was deliberately shot as well.
As of last week, Edmonton police had responded to 196 shootings so far in 2023 — a 46 per cent increase over the same time last year.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers.