Police have identified the victim of a fatal Friday night shooting in Abbotsford. The (IHIT) Integrated Homicide Investigation Team say Lovepreet “Jason” Dhaliwal, 24, was killed in a targeted hit.
Victim in #AbbotsfordBC ID’ed as 24y/o Lovepreet “Jason” Dhaliwal. Blk 4dr Acura TL believed connected to shooting. Call IHIT w/ info. pic.twitter.com/9aooRxgCVr
— IHIT (@HomicideTeam) January 20, 2018
Shots rang out in the 3500 block of Promontory Court at around 6:30 p.m, and officers arrived to find Dhaliwal inside a van with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say a black Acura TL left the scene immediately after the shooting. A burned out vehicle of the same description was later found in Langley on the 22300 block of 61st Avenue.
Cpl. Frank Jang said at a press conference Saturday, “We will be going through that vehicle very closely.” He was pronounced dead at the scene. He would not say if Dhaliwal was shot at his home, but said he lived in the area.
Witnesses who did not want to be identified said that they heard up to eight gunshots. The shooting happened just under cameras police set up after a rash of gang violence.People called 911 about 6:30 p.m.
According to IHIT, Dhaliwal was trying to leave a criminal lifestyle.
Dhaliwal was charged in 2012 with being unlawfully in a house and with disguising his face with intent. But the charges were dropped after new information became available.
Dhaliwal was murdered right near the spot where an uninvolved bystander, 74-year-old Ping Shun Au, died after getting caught in a gangland shooting in September 2015. He lived next door to a house on Promontory that was targeted.
