A friend of the man stabbed to death on White Rock’s promenade on Tuesday says he’s still struggling to understand his friend’s apparently random murder.
“Why? What is the reason behind this?” Gagan Singh asked.
“That just scares us the most. It’s just without reason.”
Kulwinder Sohi, 27, was attacked just before 9:30 p.m. as he sat on a bench with a friend watching the sunset at the popular beach.
Singh said his friend was a red seal plumber who moved to Canada in 2019 and dreamed of starting his own plumbing company.
“Very passionate, focused guy,” he said.
Singh said he’d spoken to Sohi’s parents, who remain in India, and that friends are working to have his body sent back to them for burial.
Speaking with the family has been difficult, he said, because no one is able to answer their questions about why their son is dead.
“We all are thinking why, why is this happening? What was his fault, what did he do wrong?” he said.
“They are in huge shock. We are just trying to give them condolences. It’s hard to say anything right now.”
In an update Friday, homicide investigators said they continue to hunt for a suspect in the killing, described as a Black male who is five-feet-11-inches and was last seen wearing a hat and a grey hoodie with the hood up over the hat.
Just 48 hours before the fatal attack, another man was stabbed in the neck in the same area by a man with a similar description, but police have been reticent to formally connect the two incidents.
Police have yet to release any images or security video of the suspect.
The attacks have rattled the beach community, where businesses say customers have vanished in recent days.
“Yesterday was the slowest day ever. Only two or three people came,” said Dada Cokcin at the Beaver Tails pastry shop.
“Everybody is scared of coming to Marine Drive. But also here seems to be safer than ever because we see a lot of police cars around.”
Carolyn Maclean, who lives in Vancouver but works in White Rock said she’s changed her behaviour since the attacks.
“Usually I do a beach walk every day on break … but today it’s not wanting to go as far,” she said.
“I’m still like double checking, turning around, making sure there are people around, just feeling a little extra cautious.”
Trevor Halford, the BC United MLA for Surrey-White Rock, tied the incident to mounting concern about crime and public disorder throughout the province.
He said B.C.’s NDP government is not doing enough to ensure the public feels safe.
“People are scared, they are frustrated and they are angry. And I share in all three of those because right now they should be,” he said.
Singh, meanwhile, said he felt the RCMP should have done more to boost police presence in the area after the Sunday attack.
“When the first incident happened there should have been more patrols and security measures,” he said.
“Now it is too late. Kulwinder is no longer with us, somebody has lost his life.”
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