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Two men fatally shot in Edmonton had links to Townline Hill conflict, police say

Navdeep Sidhu and Harman Mangat previously connected to Abbotsford battle for drug turf
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Police were on Sparrow Drive in October 2014 to investigate the fatal shooting of Harwin Baringh

Two men shot and killed in Edmonton on Wednesday had previous connections to the Townline Hill conflict in Abbotsford, according to local police.

Abbotsford Police Sgt. Judy Bird said Navdeep Sidhu, 24, and Harman Mangat, 22, were at one point tied to the battle for drug turf in Abbotsford, but she couldn’t provide any other details and didn’t know exactly when they were last connected to the conflict.

She said Sidhu previously lived in Abbotsford, but she did not know where Mangat had resided.

The two men were found dead in a pickup truck – a Dodge Ram with B.C. licence plates – in a southeast Edmonton neighbourhood on Wednesday afternoon.

Edmonton police soon identified the two men and confirmed that they had both died from multiple gunshot wounds.

They referred to the deaths as “drug-related murders” and said the victims were believed to be connected to drug activity in the Lower Mainland.

Sidhu was previously named in court documents that were filed in late 2014 by the province’s director of civil forfeiture. (The Abbotsford News chose not to name him at the time, as the matter was still before the courts.)

The claim had been filed to seize two vehicles – including a 2007 Altima owned by Sidhu – that were alleged to have been on the scene during the shooting death of Harwin Baringh, 18, in October 2014 on Sparrow Drive in Abbotsford.

Police have said that Baringh’s death is linked to the Townline Hill conflict.

The documents alleged that Sidhu was a member of the “Chahil crime group,” to which Baringh was also connected.

The documents stated that Baringh and a passenger were travelling in a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Oct. 2, 2014 on Sparrow Drive when they stopped at the side of the road.

There, Sidhu and his passenger pulled up alongside the Jeep, and the two groups had a conversation.

According to the notice of civil claim, surveillance cameras about an hour later captured the two vehicles following two white cars along Sparrow Drive.

The two white cars then parked and blocked the road. An occupant stepped out of one of the vehicles and fired several shots at Baringh’s Jeep, the documents allege.

Shots were then exchanged among the occupants of all four vehicles, according to the civil claim.

Three of the cars sped away, but Baringh’s Jeep remained, and police arrived to find him dead. No one has yet been charged with his murder.

The director of civil forfeiture filed a claim to seize both Sidhu’s vehicle and one of the white cars – a 2009 Nissan Altima – saying they were being used to “engage in a violent ongoing gang conflict” between the Chahil and Dhaliwal crime groups and were likely to continue to be used for such purposes.

The courts ruled the following year that the vehicles were to be forfeited to the government.

 



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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