Like countless immigrants before him, Barinder Singh brought his family to Canada for the chance for a better life: for his wife and two daughters to thrive in the land of opportunity.
Now, he is dead and his widow Jasjit Kaur is shattered and staggered, trying to make sense of the random violence that took her husband’s life and injured one of her daughters in the middle of the night.
“It’s all been like a nightmare for us,” she said of the overnight New Year’s Day home invasion in southeast Edmonton, speaking with Global News on Tuesday.
Kaur can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her family – but that’s exactly what happened.
The family of four was sleeping inside their unit at the Boardwalk Tamarack East and West townhouse complex at Mill Woods Road East/38th Street and 16A Avenue when they said the front door was broken in and gunshots rang out.
“Someone entered the house. We all were sleeping and shots were fired several times.
“It was all within 60 seconds or a minute and a half.”
She thinks there were three intruders but can’t be sure—Kaur has trouble determining which details of the traumatic night are real memories and which are nightmares.
“Is this a dream we’re remembering, or did it really happen? We don’t know.”
The unknown intruders left as soon as they arrived. One of his daughters was sleeping in the den and was injured by the bullet. Her husband was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
“I was like, what to do? Do I take care of him or do I take care of him? Kaur said crying about the impossible choice.
“I told him not to sleep. Not to sleep. To wake up. To wake up.
“I was screaming at the highest pitch for help,” she said. “It happened and there was a silence … complete silence in the house.”
Police said officers responded to a disturbance around 2:45 a.m. and arrived at the Pollard Meadows campus to find an injured 21-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man. The family says Singh was actually 50 – his birthday coming up in April.
The Boardwalk Tamarack East and West townhouse complex at Mill Woods Road East/38th Street and 16A Avenue, where a man was fatally shot on Jan. 1, 2023.
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Kaur said the police arrived very quickly and immediately went to work trying to save her husband. EMS rushed Singh to the hospital, but he did not turn up.
An autopsy was done last week. On Monday, police said Singh died of a gunshot wound and the medical examiner determined the manner of death was a homicide.
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Police said the homicide unit is following up on several leads, but are still working to establish a motive for this violent crime.
While investigating the homicide, police found a burned-out vehicle in the nearby Laurel neighborhood. It was discovered at the construction site of a new house about a dozen blocks east of the shooting site, near 24th Street and 14th Avenue.
Police said they believe a 2012 white Dodge Ram truck is connected to the crime. Kaur said the vehicle did not belong to her.
The family said that the motive of the theft does not seem to be there.
“He didn’t take a single penny from the house. Nothing,” said one of the daughters, who did not want to appear on camera or give her name.
Kaur said that when her daughter was shot at such close range, the bullet entered her shoulder on one side of her body and exited her back, leaving her with two lacerations and three fractured ribs.
The young woman was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, but has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery — at least physically. Emotional wounds will probably never heal.
Singh’s widow hopes Edmontonians can help find those responsible.
“We want justice. I just want to know who did this. I need to know. Why… Why was my family targeted? And it wasn’t just him – it was the whole family.
Barinder Singh, 50, was murdered on January 1, 2023, in southeast Edmonton.
Homicide detectives remained tight-lipped when contacted by Global News on Tuesday and had no new details to share.
Kaur said that when she spoke to the investigators, she was told that it was to protect the integrity of the case.
“I respect them because they say that if they say something, it may affect the investigation. I don’t want that,” Kaur said.
“I want criminals. I want to know why this happened.
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The family continues to live under the shadow of terror. Kaur said that she returned to her house last Monday with her sister and daughter to collect some belongings when someone inside rang the doorbell and all three women fainted.
“No one had the guts to open (the door) and see who was there,” she said.
“We are very scared.”
The family no longer lives on the Mill Woods compound and said that as difficult a struggle as homelessness is, they do not feel safe returning: “We don’t have a home to live in.”
Fingerprint dust and evidence remained on the broken door of the house in the townhouse complex on Tuesday.
Personal safety is paramount for the three women, who are now left to fend for themselves in a strange place.
“It is not just one community being targeted or anything like that. No one is safe,” one daughter said of the violence she is experiencing in Edmonton’s communities.
“I don’t feel safe, secure anywhere.”
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The family said Singh worked for the same hospitality company in India for 25 years before coming to Canada. He was a quiet man who thrived by feeding others and making people happy.
The family came to Canada a few years ago, before first moving to Edmonton in B.C. and settling into their townhome in Mill Woods: “Everything was new to us.”
Everyone in the family was pitching in to get it: Both daughters have jobs, Kaur works at 7/11 and her husband works six days a week at an Indian restaurant called Royal Sweets in the Walker neighborhood in the city’s deep southeast. Works. He said that he spent half his time, maybe more, at work.
“We were just in fight mode.”
When he was not at work, the family said he was helping with domestic responsibilities or assisting his small group of friends in India: “He never socialized much – he was happy with the few friends he had.” Was.”
“He was a simple man, a simple man.”
Barinder Singh, 50, was murdered on January 1, 2023, in southeast Edmonton.
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Kaur said she knows maybe 20 families here and feels very lonely.
“I didn’t expect this from Canada, I didn’t come here for that reason.”
She can’t even say why she left her old life behind.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” she said through tears as she shrugged her shoulders hopelessly.
have family started a GoFundMe To help with unexpected funeral costs.
Anyone with information about the homicide is asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or cellphone #377.
Anonymous information may also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online,