The victim of a homicide in Surrey, B.C.’s Newton neighbourhood on Wednesday has been identified as a Metro Vancouver filmmaker and anti-gang advocate.
Homicide investigators say they believe Manbir ‘Mani’ Amar, 40, died after what they described as “a physical altercation between two neighbours.”
Surrey RCMP and paramedics were called to a home on 61 Avenue near 141 Street just before 2 p.m., and arrived to find Amar with critical injuries. Despite lifesaving efforts, he died at the scene.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said a suspect was arrested at the scene, who remains in custody. He has not been publicly identified, as he has not been formally charged.
“This was an isolated incident between two neighbours,” IHIT Sgt. Timothy Pierotti said in a media release. “Tragically this situation escalated to a point where a life was taken.”
Amar had produced several documentaries and short films, with a focus on guns and gangs and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
His 2009 documentary A Warrior’s Religion interviewed several Metro Vancouver gangsters, including Bal Buttar who was paralyzed and left blind in a shooting by a rival gangster.
In 2015, during another wave of gang violence, he organized a candlelight peace march.
“I beg of you to put down your weapons and make better positive life choices,” he said in a CKNW radio interview at the time. “At the end of the day, if something happens to you, be it death or jail, you’re going to hurt your family, if not worse at the end of the day.”
Karen Sidhu, executive director of the Surrey Anti Crime Society, said Amar had a “heart of gold.”
“Beyond the films, his passion was just amazing, it was his goal in life was to try and help kids steer away from the life of gangs,” she said.
“He was instrumental in turning some of the kids’ lives around. And the situation now where he was killed — we’re just in a state of shock that he is no longer with us.”
Amar was also linked at one point to a project to make a film about Maple Batalia, the young Simon Fraser University student killed at the Surrey campus.
Witnesses are being urged to call the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
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