Four years after chaos erupted on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the middle of Whistler Village, two men accused of firing 21 shots and killing two people are facing a jury trial at the Vancouver Law Courts. Gursimran Sahota and Tanvir Khakh have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder connected to the noon hour shooting in the driveway of the Sundial Hotel. The court has heard Satindera Gill and Meninder Dhaliwahl were both struck by gunfire and succumbed to their injuries. In admissions of fact read by the Crown, the jury heard police and firefighters responded to a vehicle fire minutes after the shooting in the 3000-block of Ptarmigan Place in the resort community. Firefighters doused the flames engulfing a light coloured 2020 Honda CRV. In the meantime, RCMP nearby in Squamish heard about the shooting and a description of a possible suspect vehicle. In testimony Wednesday afternoon, Const. Mark McMahon told the court he positioned his marked RCMP pickup truck at the intersection of Highway 99 and Depot Road so he could keep an eye out for the car. Just 36 minutes after the shooting, McMahon saw a black Chrysler 200 sedan with dark tinted rear windows travelling south on the highway. He pulled the car over near the intersection of Highway 99 and Garibaldi Road. Sahota and Khakh were among the five men located in the vehicle. McMahon testified about radioing for additional RCMP units, arresting the suspects, and bagging their hands to preserve possible evidence. Police also seized the men’s clothing and shoes for forensic examination. In the reading of the Admissions of Fact, the court heard police found two handguns, a Smith and Wesson and a Sig Sauer, in the burned Honda CRV. Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard told the court all 21 spent bullet casings at the scene of the shooting were linked to those two weapons. The court also heard testimony from Cpl. Jaehun Lee, who said he examined shoes allegedly worn by Sahota at the time of his arrest. Lee said he spotted possible blood stains on the black Nikes and took swabs to be sent to a lab for testing. The trial is scheduled for a total of 14 days in B.C. Supreme Court.
