Punjabi-origin man in Canada wonders why police visited parents' house days before their murder, was family targeted

Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Kaur, both in their 50s, were shot more than 20 times just before midnight on November 20 at their rental property along the Caledon-Brampton border

Sidhu's parents were alone at home when Peel police visited the house. Photo: @IANS/X

IANS

Toronto, January 1

A Punjabi-origin man has said that police spoke to his visiting parents from India just four days before they were killed in a shooting spree in Canada's Ontario province last month.

Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Harbhajan Kaur, both in their 50s, were shot more than 20 times just before midnight on November 20 at their rental property along the Caledon-Brampton border.

While Jagtar died on the spot, Harbhajan succumbed to injuries in the hospital where she was rushed to along with their daughter who was shot 13 times and continues to battle for her life.

Devastated, the couple's son Gurdit Singh Sidhu, a Canadian citizen, told CBC News that he wants to know why and who did this to his parents who were supposed to return to India in January.

He told the news channel that why an officer from Peel Regional Police's Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau showed up at his property, and spoke to his parents four days before their murder.

"I felt like I should have never called them here.... I am just praying for my sister," Sidhu said, adding that he hadn't told her about the parents.

Sidhu, who has quit his job to look after his sister, told CBC that the first thing that came to his mind after he learnt of the shooting was the police visiting his parents before the killing.

"That's the question we are trying to ask the police. 'Why were you here? Why was our family targeted? Why have you not informed us of anything?' Because for sure they knew something was going to happen," he said.

"We couldn't even think these things could happen in Canada. That's why I took citizenship here -- [thinking it was] a safe country."

Sidhu's parents were alone at home when Peel police visited the house, located near Mayfield and Airport roads, on November 16.

As neither of them spoke English, they phoned a friend, Daman Preet Singh, who offered to translate the conversation.

Daman told CBC Toronto that he asked the police officer for his badge number and then answered the officer's questions about who was staying in the house since Gurdit Singh Sidhu moved in over a year ago.

"The police officer was telling me, 'we are looking for somebody, that's why we're here to identify the people living here,'" said Daman.

Sidhu is clueless as to why Peel police would be asking questions as the area is under the jurisdiction of Ontario Provincial Police.

Sidhu said Harbhajan told him the police remained parked on the street for close to an hour, and that the police officer left his card with them, which included the badge number.

He said he has asked the police "several times" about the visit but "they are saying 'we can't say anything, we have no comments'," he said.

Launching a homicide investigation soon after the incident, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said that they could have possibly died in a case of mistaken identity, and that they believe “multiple suspects” were involved in the killing.

Investigators are probing “all aspects of this homicide, including whether or not the victims of this crime were intended targets or not”, Detective Inspector Brian McDermott, OPP, had told Toronto Star newspaper.

“It is still too early to make any firm determinations on that aspect,” he had said.