Sikh couple from Patiala shot dead over possible mistaken identity in Canada

According to information posted on a fundraising platform by a family friend, more than 30 bullets were fired by unknown gunmen as the family prepared to go to sleep in their rented home in Caledon.

Ottawa: A Sikh family from India targeted in a shooting in the Canadian province of Ontario last month that left one person dead may have been a case of mistaken identity, provincial police said. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers and paramedics responded to reports of a shooting on Mayfield Road near Airport Road, along the Caledon-Brampton border, shortly before midnight on November 21.

Jagtar Singh, 57, was killed while his wife Harbhajan Kaur, 55, and their daughter were seriously injured in a shooting. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers and paramedics found Jagtar Singh dead at the scene on arrival and took Kaur and their daughter to hospital with life-threatening injuries, the Toronto Star newspaper reported Monday.

While Kaur succumbed to her injuries in hospital, their daughter, who has yet to be identified by police, continues to fight for life in a Toronto trauma center.

According to information posted on a fundraising platform by a family friend, more than 30 bullets were fired by unknown gunmen as the family prepared to go to sleep in their rented home in Caledon.

More than 20 bullets were pumped into Kaur’s body alone, damaging her stomach, uterus, intestines, legs, diaphragm, kidneys and lungs, Paramvir Singh wrote on the GoFundMe platform.

Doctors told Paramvir that even if the daughter survives, she will not be able to recover for a very long period. They said she is “deeply traumatized and seriously injured, and has not spoken a word since the incident occurred.”

Officers are investigating “all aspects of this murder, including whether or not the victims of this crime were the intended targets or not,” OPP Inspector Brian McDermott said.

“It is still too early to make definitive statements about this.” According to a source close to the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the family wants to make it clear that they were not involved in anything that could have led to the Nov. 20 shooting at the home they were renting.

Describing them as “innocent” and ordinary people, the source said the victims had no connection with criminal activity and had no connection with an illegal trucking operation at the same address, which had recently been shut down by the City of Caledon.

The man and his wife were reportedly visiting family from India when they were shot. The family believes the attackers who stormed the house that night were looking for someone else. “They accidentally shot this family because they thought it was that person’s family,” they said.

Investigators have not said whether the shooting is related to the business.

The source said the family had no ties to the company and only rented the upper part of the house. The basement unit was also rented. “This was a normal family,” a representative of Gurudwara Jot Parkash Sahib, a Sikh house of worship in Brampton, said days after the shooting.

“Everyone is shocked,” the Gurudwara representative added.