The mother of a bystander who was killed in the Surrey Six slayings said she was “horrified” to learn a case of mistaken identity has led to the death of another innocent young man.
On Wednesday, Delta police revealed Bikramdeep Randhawa’s killers most likely “mistook him” for someone else involved in the Lower Mainland gang conflict. Randhawa, a 26-year-old B.C. Corrections officer, was shot and killed while off duty in a local Walmart parking lot on May 1, 2021.
“It kind of brought me back into my own days of October 19, 2007. I had this chill up my spine and I kind of thought, ‘How can we allow this to carry on?” said Eileen Mohan.
“I just feel these gangsters make our loved ones’ lives look so cheap. That made me sick to my stomach.”
Mohan’s son, Christopher, was 22 years old when he and five others were shot and killed in one of B.C.’s worst episodes of gang violence. Christopher was not the intended target, and was on his way to play basketball with friends when he was gunned down.
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“When I saw Mr. Randhawa, I literally teared up because I could put myself in his family’s shoes and know the horror that they are going through,” Mohan told Global News.
“We don’t bring our children into this world only to be taken by gangsters.”
According to Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers, there were 20 gang-related shootings and four deaths in a 40-day timeframe at the beginning of 2022. That’s after at least 123 gang-related shootings in 2021, executive director Linda Annis said in a plea for tips to help stop the violence.
An increase in gun violence in the Lower Mainland has prompted several press conferences from local police forces, in an attempt to reassure the public that targeted enforcement, patrols and information-sharing have all increased in response to the crisis.
Mohan said the justice system must match police efforts, and restrict the number of “sweetheart deals” that are cut with the perpetrators of “high crime,” including the kind of gang violence that killed her son.
“At one, Mr. Bacon’s case was dismissed. It was stayed. We had to appeal to get the case back on again. Then what does he do? He cuts a sweetheart deal and gets only five years and eight months or so in jail,” she said. “These are examples set in court.”
In September 2020, gang leader Jamie Bacon was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the Surrey Six slayings, less time served, for a total of five years and seven months. That July, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit the murder of Corey Lal, the intended target of the shootings, and a first-degree murder charge was dropped in exchange.
Police have not yet charged anyone in the killing of Randhawa, whose family and friends held a memorial for him on the one-year-anniversary of his death.
In their Wednesday release, however, Delta police said they’re “confident” they’ve identified suspects. They have not gathered enough evidence yet to bring charges to the Crown.
At the time of his death, Randhawa’s brother, Dupinder, described Bikramdeep as a “loving guy,” who was working towards becoming an RCMP officer when his life was cut short.