Vancouver Police are investigating after a fight on the Granville Strip early Saturday morning claimed the life of a nightclub employee.
Police said a fight broke out inside the Cabana Lounge in the 1100-block of Granville St. at around 2:30 a.m. and then spilled onto the street.
Police said nightclub employee Kalwinder Thind, 23, was injured trying to break up the fight and later died in hospital.
Several arrests were made, police said.
Until recently, Thind worked as a sales associate at Richmond Chrysler.
Curtis Robinson of BarWatch Vancouver, an association that advocates for safe bars and nightclubs, said he was “horrified, saddened and extremely upset and angry about this incident.”
“This was a fine young man, who was working to supplement his [education]. It’s tragic.”
This isn’t the first violent incident to have occurred at Cabana Lounge. In 2016, a 22-year-old North Vancouver man was stabbed outside the nightclub.
Police said homicide investigators are still working to collect evidence. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call investigators at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8478.
A ‘positive spirit’
Meanwhile, Thind is being remembered as someone who would make everyone laugh.
“When he’d come into the room he would light up the room, he’d make everybody laugh,” said Nikki Cunningham, who worked with Thind at Richmond Chrysler.
Cunningham said Thind was a “positive spirit” who was always kind.
WATCH: Nightclub employee killed
Danny Mouro, who also worked with Thind at the dealership, says he couldn’t believe the news.
“It’s just tragic,” said Mouro. “He was definitely loved by everybody here. We were all devastated by the news today.”
He said everyone at the dealership is grief-stricken for the family and wants “them to know that our hearts and prayers are with them.”
— With files from Amy Judd
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