{"id":543682,"date":"2026-03-18T03:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543682\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T03:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:21:12","slug":"passengers-recount-qeii-drive-by-shooting-that-killed-edmonton-man-no-one-deserves-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543682\/","title":{"rendered":"Passengers recount QEII drive-by shooting that killed Edmonton man: \u2018No one deserves this\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birinder Singh, 22, had a day off work and was headed out on a trip with friends to see Banff for the first time,\u00a0when his life was abruptly ended in a drive-by shooting<\/a> that has left many with questions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why they did it,\u201d said a friend who has known Singh for 16 years, ever since they were school children in back in India.<\/p>\n

He was one of two childhood friends in the car with Singh\u00a0during the weekend shooting.<\/p>\n

They both met with Global News on Tuesday, asking not to be identified because they fear for their safety while the shooter(s) remain at large.<\/p>\n

The three men were headed to the mountains via the QEII on Saturday afternoon, and were just a few minutes south of Leduc, when a pickup truck pulled up beside their Honda Civic.<\/p>\n

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The friends said a person in the truck made a hand gesture toward them \u2014 something resembling a peace sign. They said Singh waved back.<\/p>\n

Moments later, someone in the truck opened fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just heard a gunshot and within a minute, everything happened, everything has changed. Our whole world is really bad now. We are feeling really traumatized,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n

The friends said the truck drove off without anyone looking back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense. Like, you just randomly shoot a random car?\u201d<\/p>\n

A bullet struck Singh in the neck. His friends say he couldn\u2019t speak but gestured to them that he had been shot.<\/p>\n

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They were forced to reach across him to take control of the wheel and pedals, bringing the car to a stop on the shoulder of Highway 2 near Township Road 490.<\/p>\n

The friends attempted to apply pressure to his wound and called 911. First responders arrived quickly, but Singh died in the vehicle from significant blood loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe don\u2019t deserve this, like he was a really nice guy,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tUndated photo of Birinder Singh, 22.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

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The friends are searching for answers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have right to know (the) reason why they shoot at us.\u201d<\/p>\n

They say they had never seen the people in the truck before and have no idea why the vehicle shot at them.<\/p>\n

In the absence of any explanation, they wonder if race could be the motivation.\u00a0The friends worry they were the target of a hate crime, explaining animosity towards South Asians has been a topic of discussion in the community.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy there is much hate? We do also have a right to live, right?\u201d the friend said. \u201cWe just want people to love each other. Don\u2019t hate anyone, any community, because every life matters. People came here for their better future. They\u2019re working hard for their families, for their dreams. No one deserves this.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has right to live freely.\u201d<\/p>\n

They say every passing vehicle now leaves them feeling on edge:\u00a0\u201cWe keep looking on the side mirrors \u2014 we are really scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the friends, Singh moved from India to Brampton, Ont. three years ago and studied business administration before relocating to Edmonton in October.<\/p>\n

Since then, Singh had been working in construction, installing siding.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to start his own business. He wanted to learn a skilled job so that he can open his own company,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n

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A GoFundMe was launched<\/a> in order to send Singh\u2019s body back to India \u201cso his parents can see him for the one last time.\u201d The friends said on Tuesday they\u2019ve already raised all the money they will need to make that happen.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tUndated photo of Birinder Singh, 22.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSupplied\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

RCMP say investigators have not gathered enough information yet to determine whether the shooting was random or targeted.<\/p>\n

However, police say they currently have no information suggesting Singh himself was targeted. Officers are still gathering witness statements and reviewing any available dash\u2011camera footage.<\/p>\n

No arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birinder Singh, 22, had a day off work and was headed out on a trip with friends to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[212105,49,48,2169,23752,17442,212106,149448],"class_list":["post-543682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-birinder-singh","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-crime","tag-highway-2","tag-qeii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}