An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder following a fatal shooting on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway near Leduc, Alberta. The Alberta RCMP announced the charges after Birinder Singh, 22, was killed while driving with friends on March 14, 2026.
Singh was travelling south toward the mountains in a Honda Civic when a grey pickup truck pulled alongside his car south of Leduc near Township Road 490. Witnesses told police that someone inside the 2022 Ford F-150 fired multiple shots at approximately 2:50 PM, striking Singh in the neck while he was driving.
Police arrested Jimmy Gassner of Lloydminster on March 21, 2026, in Canoe Lake, Saskatchewan. He is being transported back to Alberta to face the charges in the Leduc Court of Justice while the investigation into the shooting continues.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada has asked investigators to look into whether the shooting was a hate crime. Singh was an international student from India who moved from Brampton, Ontario to Edmonton in October 2025 to work in construction, and he was wearing a turban when the attack occurred.
Police say they do not believe the victim and the suspect knew each other before the shooting, and the motive is still not clear. Officers are still looking for other people who were seen in the truck when the shots were fired, while Singh’s body was returned home to his family in Punjab, India on March 23, 2026.
