Man convicted of manslaughter, acquitted of murder in Vancouver Starbucks stabbing

Inderdeep Singh Gosal has been found guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of murder in the killing of Paul Schmidt outside a Vancouver Starbucks. Schmidt was pushing his daughter in a stroller before he was stabbed to death.

Gosal had been charged with second-degree murder in Schmidt’s March 2023 death. Schmidt was stabbed six times in an attack captured on video and widely shared online.

During the judge-alone trial in B.C. Supreme Court, Gosal’s lawyers argued that manslaughter was the more appropriate verdict, describing the attack as an overreaction related to mental illness rather than a deliberate intent to kill. Crown prosecutors argued that Gosal knew his actions could result in Schmidt’s death.

CCTV footage played in court in February showed a verbal confrontation becoming physical after Schmidt approached Gosal near the Starbucks entrance, where Gosal was smoking something.

The court heard that Gosal has schizophrenia. He testified that he had stopped taking medication about three months before the killing and believed a knife he said he found in an alley was a sign from God that he needed to protect himself. The Crown cited several occasions on which Gosal changed his account, including about buying the knife, overstating his alcohol consumption to police and providing psychiatrists with self-serving descriptions of his psychological state.