Birinder Singh, a 22-year-old student from Punjab, was shot and killed while driving on a highway south of Edmonton in an incident police call a random and deeply troubling act of violence. Singh was on a road trip to Alberta’s Rocky Mountains for the first time when a bullet fired from a passing pickup struck him shortly before 3 p.m. near Leduc.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police say a grey pickup approached the Honda Civic Singh was driving, someone inside fired at the vehicle and then fled. Investigators later located the suspect vehicle, identified as a Ford F-150, but no arrests have been made.
A friend who was in the car with Singh and asked to remain anonymous said the shooting has left the group shaken and afraid. “We feel really unsafe right now. Every time we go out, we keep checking the mirrors again and again,” he told CBC, adding that they had heard Canada was safe back home in Punjab but no longer feel that way.
Singh, a devout Amritdhari Sikh, came to Canada three years ago as an international student. After earning a business degree in Ontario, he moved to Alberta a few months ago, worked in construction and had plans to start his own business. On the day he was killed, he and two childhood friends of more than 15 years were travelling together toward Banff for a day of sightseeing.
The friend described how two men in the pickup initially gestured at them; believing it was a friendly wave they waved back. Moments later the truck sped up, drew alongside again and a shot was fired that shattered the rear passenger window. Singh was hit in the neck. With help from his friends he managed to pull the car over, and emergency responders reached the scene quickly, but he died there. “He died in my arms,” the friend said.
Police say the motive remains unclear and there is no evidence yet that the attack was targeted, though authorities are examining all possibilities, including a hate-motivated crime. The World Sikh Organisation of Canada has urged investigators to treat the killing as a potential hate crime. Singh’s friend said the incident and subsequent hateful, racist comments online have deepened their pain: “We don’t know why this happened. Why do they hate us so much? Are we not the same as everyone else?”
Friends remember Singh as quiet, hardworking and warm‑humoured. “He enjoyed his own company, but when he was with us, he was really funny,” one recalled. Arrangements are being made to return his body to India, where his parents are grieving the sudden loss of their only son.
