{"id":576345,"date":"2026-04-02T01:25:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/576345\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:25:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:25:31","slug":"edmonton-man-charged-with-2nd-degree-murder-in-fatal-daytime-highway-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/576345\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton man charged with 2nd-degree murder in fatal daytime highway shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A man is facing charges in the death of an international student who was shot while driving on Highway 2 near Township Road 490.<\/p>\n

Birinder Singh, a 22-year-old Sikh man from India, died of his injuries on March 14 after a person in a passing pickup truck opened fire on the highway near Leduc, just south of Edmonton.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Staff Sgt. John Brown said Deon Libsekal, 23, was charged with second-degree murder and accessory to murder in connection to Singh\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Libsekal was already in police custody for unrelated matters, said Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This comes after the RCMP charged Jimmy Gassner, 18, of Lloydminster, Alta., with second-degree murder, also in relation to Singh’s death. Gassner was arrested by police last week<\/a> near Canoe Lake, Sask., according to RCMP.<\/p>\n

Brown said investigators believe all suspects have been arrested and charged.<\/p>\n

Both Gassner and Libsekal have “some criminal history” and were known to police, Brown said.<\/p>\n

Court records show Libsekal has previously been charged with obstructing a peace officer and failure to provide information to a peace officer. <\/p>\n

\"aBirinder Singh, a 22-year-old Edmontonian who came to Canada as an international student died Saturday after a shooting on a highway south of Edmonton. (Submitted, name withheld)<\/p>\n

Investigators believe the shooting to be a random, “one-off event,” and that Gassner and Libsekal did not know Singh or the two other people in his vehicle, said Brown.<\/p>\n

“It is alarming that the shooting happened during the daytime \u2014 any shooting in the public is alarming,” he said.<\/p>\n

The World Sikh Organization of Canada, which promotes and protects the rights of Sikhs in Canada, have urged police to investigate Singh\u2019s killing as a hate crime. The group says the killing happened during a rise in anti-Sikh sentiment across Canada. <\/p>\n

Brown said the RCMP has \u201csome understanding\u201d of the motives for the crime, but did not provide specifics. He said RCMP has no evidence that the shooting was a hate crime, racially motivated, or related to robbery, gang initiation or road rage.<\/p>\n

However, Brown also said he couldn’t rule out whether the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, or whether Gassner and Libsekal are affiliated with a gang.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you with certainty our investigation has shown this is absolutely not racially motivated whatsoever. … We can say that for sure,” Brown said.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Alberta RCMP charge 2nd suspect in connection with highway shooting:\"\"<\/p>\n

Alberta RCMP charge 2nd suspect in QEII shooting<\/p>\n

The Alberta RCMP have charged a second suspect in the shooting on the QEII highway that killed 22-year-old Birinder Singh. CBC\u2019s Sarah Reid has the latest update following a media briefing on April 1.<\/p>\n

Cpl. Mathew\u00a0Howell of the Alberta RCMP said though this event may spark fear for drivers, it is an unusual situation.<\/p>\n

“We can’t promise this is never going to happen again. That being said, this is something that is a very rare instance,” Howell told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“People can still feel safe driving on the road and not have to worry about something like this happening to them on a daily basis.”<\/p>\n

Libsekal is expected to appear in court on April 2 at the Alberta Court of Justice in Leduc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-576345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576345","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=576345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}