Two men charged in Whistler double killing face jury trial

Four years after a shooting in Whistler Village killed two men, Gursimran Sahota and Tanvir Khakh are on trial by jury at the Vancouver Law Courts.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges connected to the noon-hour shooting in the driveway of the Sundial Hotel. The court has heard that Satindera Gill and Meninder Dhaliwahl were struck by gunfire and later died of their injuries.

In admissions of fact read by the Crown, jurors heard that police and firefighters responded minutes later to a vehicle fire in the 3000-block of Ptarmigan Place. Firefighters extinguished flames engulfing a light-coloured 2020 Honda CRV.

RCMP in nearby Squamish heard about the shooting and a description of a possible suspect vehicle. Const. Mark McMahon testified that he positioned his marked RCMP pickup at Highway 99 and Depot Road. Thirty-six minutes after the shooting, he saw a black Chrysler 200 sedan with dark-tinted rear windows heading south and stopped it near Highway 99 and Garibaldi Road.

Sahota and Khakh were among five men found in the vehicle. McMahon testified that he called for additional units, arrested the suspects and bagged their hands to preserve possible evidence. Police also seized their clothing and shoes for forensic examination.

Police found a Smith and Wesson handgun and a Sig Sauer handgun in the burned Honda CRV, the court heard. Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard said all 21 spent casings recovered from the shooting scene were linked to those two weapons.

Cpl. Jaehun Lee testified that he examined black Nike shoes allegedly worn by Sahota at the time of his arrest, saw possible blood stains and took swabs for laboratory testing. The B.C. Supreme Court trial is scheduled to last 14 days.