Clutching a framed photo of her baby brother, Jassicka Bhullar still can’t believe he’s gone.
“It was a huge loss for the community, for us,” she said.
Family describe 23-year-old Kalwinder Thind, who died over the weekend trying to break up a fight at a Granville Street nightclub, as the kind of person who “lit up the room every time he walked in.”
“His laugh was infectious,” cousin Ramen Bassi said. “He wanted to spread joy to everybody, and he did that.”
WATCH: Nightclub worker killed on Granville Street in Vancouver
Police said a fight broke out inside the Cabana Lounge in the 1100-block of Granville Street at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday and then spilled onto the street.
Thind, a nightclub promoter and aspiring realtor, was stabbed trying to break up the fight and later died in hospital.
“What happened to him was heinous and senseless and should never happen to anybody ever again,” Bhullar said.
“Why would someone bring a knife to a club? You go there to have fun, have a good time. That’s what my brother did.”
Police are appealing for witness video as they investigate the deadly fight.
Five arrests were made but no charges have been laid.
WATCH: Death of nightclub employee raises safety concerns
“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that he gets justice,” Bhullar said.
“He took away not just somebody from us, from everybody he touched,” brother-in-law Simran Bhullar said. “He took away the best person I know.”
A makeshift memorial has been growing outside Cabana Lounge to honour Thind.
A vigil will be held outside the club on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“People are calling him a hero,” Bassi said.
“He was always our hero,” adds Simran Bhullar, “but now the world can know how much of a hero he is.”