| friedn00dles | 06-09-2016 12:22 PM |
Shooting of Vancouver gangster Sukh Deo in Toronto ?targeted,? police seek witnesses | Globalnews.ca Quote:
Police are asking witnesses to come forward in the “targeted” daytime shooting of an alleged Vancouver gangster in midtown Toronto, releasing limited information on the suspects or the victim’s criminal past and admitting their investigation is operating within a “vacuum.”
Thirty-five-year-old Sukhvir Singh Deo, known to family and friends as “Sukh,” was gunned down at close range while sitting in a white Range Rover on Cowbell Lane, near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, just before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Two suspects were seen fleeing the area but police have not provided descriptions of them other than that they were wearing construction vests and fled in a 2001 to 2003 black Honda Civic.
READ MORE: Toronto shooting victim identified by father as Sukh Deo, former Vancouver gangster
“This was absolutely a targeted shooting,” Homicide Det.-Sgt. Joyce Schertzer told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
“I can tell you that he wasn’t a member of this community, it wasn’t a random shooting, it was targeted.”
Several members of the Deo family, including Sukh, were well-known to police in Metro Vancouver. His brother Harjit Singh Deo was convicted in 2007 for a 2005 kidnapping for ransom in which the victim was held inside the Deo family home in New Westminster.
Sukh Deo made headlines in May when he was escorted out of his courtside seat at a Toronto Raptors playoff game for heckling referees.
A police source told Global News that Deo moved to Ontario in 2013 was known to investigators in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland as being affiliated with the Independent Soldiers gang and was suspected of being involved in cocaine trafficking.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, with the B.C. Combined Forces Special Enforcement, told Global News Deo was aligned with several people in leadership positions of the notorious B.C. gang, which extends into the “shell company” criminal organization known as the Wolf Pack.
“People who would self identify as being a part of the Wolf Pack even though they may belong to other gangs such as the Hells Angels, do have a presence in Ontario, they have a presence almost entirely across Canada,” Houghton said.
“If history tells us anything, especially here in British Columbia, when we have individuals — no matter where they are placed on the gang hierarchy if you will — any time one of them is a victim of violence, whether its murder or attempt on their life, in the past 10 years we’ve seen tit for tat reprisals.”
Houghton said that police in B.C. regularly work closely with other police jurisdictions across the country in targeting violent gangs like the Independent Soldiers and Wolf Pack, adding that they had been “very actively communicating with them on sharing intelligence.”
READ MORE: Deadly shooting in Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton neighbourhood, police seek 2 suspects
“I can tell you that he was known to police. All I can say is he had no prior contact with the Toronto Police Service, but that he was known to the police,” Schertzer said in response to questions about Deo’s gang affiliations.
“At this time and point in the investigation this is all that I’m prepared to release to the public and I understand that we’re operating in somewhat of a vacuum but I would really like and appreciate information on this vehicle.”
Schertzer said Deo was visiting friends or “socializing” at the time of the shooting and he was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Deo’s father, Parminder Singh Deo, is also wanted in an Interpol warrant from India with charges including narcotic drug smuggling, forgery, thefts, and criminal conspiracy.
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