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Teen, 18, identified as victim of fatal shooting in Abbotsford

Sehajdeep Sidhu had no criminal record, but was known to police
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Officers were on the scene Thursday night of a fatal shooting on Gladwin Road in south Abbotsford. (Kelvin Gawley/Abbotsford News)

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has identified the victim of last night’s fatal shooting in Abbotsford as 18-year-old Sehajdeep Sidhu.

IHIT spokesman Cpl. Frank Jang said Sidhu did not have a criminal record, but he was known to police and his death is believed to be targeted and linked to other gang violence that has occurred in the Lower Mainland.

Jang also confirmed that there were two other shooting victims, both of whom are expected to survive.

“This was a brazen shooting in a quiet residential area around dinner time. This incident showed a blatant disregard for the safety of the public,” he said.

The Abbotsford Police Department (APD) received reports at about 6 p.m. Thursday that multiple gunshots had been heard in the area of Huntingdon Road and Gladwin Road.

When officers arrived, they found Sidhu in a parked car on Gladwin Road, south of Huntingdon, near South Poplar Elementary.

He had gunshot wounds, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two vehicles were reported fleeing the scene. One, an Audi, is believed to have transported one of the two other shooting victims to hospital.

The other victim was dropped off at a separate Lower Mainland hospital.

The Audi, riddled with bullet holes, was found abandoned on Pandora Avenue in Abbotsford.

The second vehicle – a black Nissan Pathfinder – was found torched in the 27000 block of 60 Avenue in Langley about 30 minutes after the shooting.

IHIT is now leading the investigation and is working in partnership with the APD, the Abbotsford forensic identification section, the BC Coroner’s Service and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

Jang said investigators will be in the area as they continue to canvass the neighbourhood and gather evidence.

“We know there are people out there who know the people involved. They have information. We need those people to come forward,” Jang said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the IHIT information line at 1-877-551-4448, email ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

SIX PREVIOUS MURDERS THIS YEAR IN CITY

This marks the seventh murder of the year in Abbotsford. Three others were also gang-related shootings: Satkar Sidhu, 23, on Feb. 20 on Steelhead Court; Jaskarn Lally, 20, on March 24 at a home in the 3500 block of Chase Street; and Jaspreet Sidhu, 18, on Aug. 4 on Oriole Crescent.

The other three homicides were: Joseph Kellington, 24, whose body was found March 3 on a Ross Road property; Nektar Pardalis, 41, whose body was found May 31 in the garage of his home on Cameron Crescent; and Clarence Crothers, 62, who was found dead in his Braun Avenue apartment on May 31.

An eighth murder involved Abbotsford woman Chelsey Gauthier, 22, whose body was found Aug. 16 in Mission.

Charges have been laid in only one of those murders. Jeffrey Charles Halicki, 50, has been charged with second-degree murder in Crothers’ death.



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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