‘Heinous act’: Alberta RCMP search for suspect and motive in deadly highway shooting

EDMONTON – Mounties are searching for a suspect and a motive in a shooting on a highway south of Edmonton earlier this month that left a driver dead.

The shooting happened near Leduc on March 14.

Witnesses saw a pickup truck driving next to a car that then speed off. Police say investigators later learned the driver of the car was shot; he pulled over to the side of the road and died.

“We are looking at multiple possibilities, but the ultimate motive of this very tragic incident is still unknown,” RCMP spokesman Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said in an email Monday.

“Regardless of the motivation, this was a heinous act of violence perpetrated on an innocent victim.”

Jaskaran Sandhu, president of the Alberta chapter of the World Sikh Organization, said the driver was an international student who had been on his way to see the Canadian Rockies for the first time with friends.

Sandhu identified the victim as Birinder Singh.

“We heard from one of the passengers in the vehicle what actually transpired. He was shaken … he needed support,” Sandhu said in a phone interview Saturday.

“They saw their friend die in front of them.”

Sandhu said Singh and his friends were going to the Rockies to celebrate his 22nd birthday.

“Birinder Singh, himself, had just moved to Edmonton after finishing college in (Ontario). He had just got his work permit and was putting some roots down in his new home in Edmonton,” Sandhu said.

He added that the passenger said the group left Edmonton just after 2 p.m. that day.

“This truck came up and started driving parallel to them,” Sandu said of the passenger’s account of what happened.

He said the people in the truck waved at Singh and his friends, and they waved back.

Sandhu said Singh continued driving and suddenly bullets hit the car.

“They were confused as to what’s going on. That’s when the truck sped away as they pulled over in their Honda onto the side of the road and it was at that point they realized Birinder had been hit,” Sandhu said.

Sandhu said he understands the matter is still under investigation and that Mounties have told his organization that hate is being considered as a motivating factor. Sandhu said everyone in the car was wearing a turban.

“We don’t want RCMP to ignore the potential or the possibility of this being a hate-motivated crime. And in conversations we’ve had with RCMP, we have been assured that it has not been ruled out … that is very much one of the motives that they’re investigating alongside others.”

Savinkoff said “uncovering the motivation for a homicide is part of our investigative process.”

“Should racism or hate be discovered as a contributing factor in this shooting, the Alberta RCMP Hate Crimes Co-ordinator will be engaged to help supplement our investigative resources.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2026.