Alberta RCMP tell Sikh community not to be alarmed after deadly highway shooting
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EDMONTON – Mounties are telling Sikh community members in Alberta not to be alarmed, after an international student from India was killed in a highway shooting.
Sgt. John Brown says the daytime shooting of 22-year-old Birinder Singh near Leduc, south of Edmonton, wasn’t racially motivated.
He also says it wasn’t related to road rage or to a gang initiation.
RCMP announced a second man has been been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting.
Brown says Singh had been driving to the Rocky Mountains with two friends on March 14, when someone in a pickup truck travelling next to them made a hand gesture and opened fire.
A bullet pierced through Singh’s neck, and a friend grabbed the steering wheel and pulled the car over to the side of the highway.
The World Sikh Organization said at the time that community members were shaken, as Singh and his friends had been wearing turbans, and it wanted police to consider race as a motivating factor.
“I would tell the Sikh community that it’s a very unfortunate incident, but I would not believe that there is a pattern whatsoever,” Brown told a news conference on Wednesday.
“This type of a crime doesn’t happen very often … on a highway. Even as experienced investigators, we find this type of a crime very alarming.”
Brown said RCMP are in touch with Singh’s family in India and continue to investigate the motive for the shooting.
“When we’re investigating crimes and there’s a portion of randomness to it, it makes it very difficult.”
A 23-year-old suspect from Edmonton, who was in custody on another matter, was arrested in the case last week. He also faces a charge of being an accessory after the fact to Singh’s killing.
An 18-year-old accused from Lloydminster was arrested March 21 in Saskatchewan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026.