As readers said early this morning, Nav Sanghera was indeed one of two men gunned down Thursday night in East Van. He died Friday morning in hospital. We have the identity of the second man, who is 49, but Vancouver Police had not yet managed to contact his family, so we are holding off publishing it.
The Sanghera group was battling a few years ago with Tejinder Malli and his associates. Interestingly, Sanghera died on the third anniversary of Malli’s 2014 murder. I am late posting on here as was with colleagues this evening comforting each other over the bad news of major lay-offs at The Sun and The Province. They won’t take effect for a month. I’ll let you know if I’m staying or going when I know. But we may be in the last days of The Real Scoop!
Here’s the story I did with my colleague Nick Eagland:
Sanghera crime family member among two slain in Vancouver on Thursday
A member of the notorious Sanghera crime family was one of two men gunned down in East Vancouver Thursday night.
Navdip Singh Sanghera, 32, was wounded in the shooting near East 31st Avenue and Inverness Street about 9:30 p.m.
He was taken to hospital in critical condition, but died of his injuries.
A second Vancouver resident, 49, was also killed. He was also known to police, who are withholding his name until his family has been notified.
Vancouver police have both the major crime unit and gang squad working on the murders — the city’s fifth and sixth homicides of 2017.
Sanghera and the other man were found inside a vehicle just half a block from Sanghera’s home on Ross Street.
Sanghera, his brother Sav, cousin Boby and uncle Udham were all arrested in 2009 as part of a Vancouver police crackdown on a violent gang war on the city’s south slope between rival groups.
03/10 2017 – A shooting in East Vancouver – in the area of East 31st Avenue and Inverness Street – has left two men dead.
Navdip and Boby Sanghera were convicted on four firearms charges after they were pulled over by police on Nov. 8, 2008, with three loaded, semi-automatic handguns in a secret compartment in their Chrysler.
Sav Sanghera was convicted of transferring a combat semi-automatic CZ 85 to another person on Jan. 31, 2009.
The charges against Udham Sanghera, who police called the patriarch of the crime group, were later stayed.
Nav Sanghera was sentenced to nine years in jail, minus six years credit for his pre-trial custody.
At his trial a Vancouver police sergeant testified that the Sangheras were battling two rival gangs — one that included Aman Manj and his associates. The other was then identified as the Malli-Buttar group.
The head of that gang, Tejinder Malli, was shot to death exactly three years ago to the day — March 10, 2014.
Manjit Singh Buttar, the other rival gang leader, remains in pre-trial custody on Richmond gun charges.
A Sanghera family member hung up on a Postmedia reporter looking for comment Friday.
Vancouver police spokesman Randy Fincham said investigators are working to determine the specifics around the shooting and looking at whether the car, which appeared to have front-end damage, had travelled the block between Ross and Inverness after the victims were shot.
He said investigators were speaking to witnesses and canvassing for video nearby.
Investigators are looking at potential gang connections as well as working with other police agencies, Fincham said.
“This is an extremely quiet neighbourhood in the city of Vancouver, a residential neighbourhood that exploded in gunfire last night,” Fincham said. “This is extremely concerning to us. It should be concerning to the community as well.”
In the case of Sanghera, police escorted the ambulance and personnel to the hospital for the safety of the victim, staff and patients, he said.
