A Surrey city councillor travelled to Texas on Wednesday to pay his respects to a slain police officer who was the first Sikh sheriff’s deputy to serve in the Houston-area office.
Harris County Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal was fatally shot during a traffic stop near Houston on Sept. 27. The 42-year-old was airlifted to hospital but did not survive.
News of the killing hit close to home for Surrey Coun. Jack Hundial, a former staff sergeant for the RCMP who decided to attend Dhaliwal’s funeral in his red serge uniform.
“I think it’s indicative of us to go and represent Canada, represent our law enforcement community and that partnership and collaboration we have with law enforcement right across the world,” he told Global News before departing.
Thousands of people, including law enforcement personnel from the U.S. and Canada, attended the services at a sports arena in Cypress, Texas.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Dhaliwal was “a man of dedication, faith, love and compassion.”
“There are no words to speak to how heartbroken we are, how devastated,” Gonzalez added.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, the nation’s first Sikh state attorney general, said Dhaliwal “inspired an entire generation of Sikhs to public service.”
Dhaliwal won an accommodation four years ago to wear his turban and a beard while patrolling.
The suspect in the officer’s death, 47-year-old Robert Solis, has been ordered by a Texas judge to remain in custody without bond.
The Houston Chronicle reports that District Judge Chris Morton said Monday that, if convicted, Solis could face the death penalty.
Authorities have not speculated as to Solis’ motive or suggested the incident was a hate crime.
According to police, Solis had a warrant out for his arrest regarding a parole violation when Dhaliwal stopped him on Friday. Authorities say they received “credible information” that Solis might have a mental illness or intellectual disability and have ordered an evaluation.
Hundial said the number of shootings of law enforcement officers around the world is mounting and that it concerns him.
He says the shooting makes him realize yet again how fortunate he was to have stayed safe in his years with the RCMP.
“Later on in your service, you think, ‘God, I’ve been pretty lucky today that I’m able to go home alive,'” he said.
Dhaliwal is survived by a wife and three children as well as his father and sisters. His mother died last year.
— With files from the Associated Press