Killing of Young Man in Nova Scotia Has Sikh Community on Edge

Police in a small town in Nova Scotia say they can’t comment on whether a young Sikh man who was killed over the weekend was targeted because of his race. 

Prabhjot Singh Katri, 23, was killed in the early morning hours on Sunday in Truro, Nova Scotia, a town of about 12,000 people. 

Truro police Chief David MacNeil told reporters police were called to an apartment building at around 2 a.m. where they found a man with life-threatening injuries; he was taken to hospital, where he died. 

MacNeil said police questioned a person of interest but that person was released without being charged with any crime; they remain a person of interest in the case. 

Police have released very few details about the incident—they have not said the cause of death, the number of suspects at large, or any potential motive, though Katri’s friend told CBC News he was not robbed. Some are fearful that Katri, who wears a turban, was targeted because of his race or religion. 

MacNeil told VICE World News police have been in touch with the Maritime Sikh Society and Katri’s family. 

“We understand the fear and we understand the concern and we’re not minimizing or taking those lightly,” he said. 

“We’re working diligently on bringing the person or persons responsible for this senseless act to justice, and that’s our focus right at this point in time. We don’t believe there’s an ongoing threat to the greater community based on our investigation to date.” 

MacNeil said if it turns out Katri’s killing was motivated by hate, additional charges will be laid. 

Simardeep Hundal, president of the Maritime Sikh Society, said the community is feeling “a lot of grief” over Katri’s death. 

She said Katri was hanging out at the apartment of some friends and was attacked when he went downstairs to leave. She said he then returned upstairs where he collapsed in front of his friends. 

“Those boys who saw him bleeding, they are traumatized,” she said. Hundal visited the apartment the next day and said the “whole kitchen floor was filled with blood.” 

Hundal said young Sikh people in the community who are juggling school, work, and culture shock are “feeling a lot of anxiety for sure.” 

“Some young people are saying they’ll move or that they don’t want to live here anymore.” 

Speaking to CBC News, Jatinder Kumardeep, a friend of Katri’s, said he and other Indians in Truro feel unsafe. 

“We are also people. Brown people also matter. We are giving our everything to this country,” he said. “Why is this happening to us?”

In a statement, the Maritime Sikh Society said it’s “satisfied with the direction of investigation. We also request the community members, especially youth, to be patient and trust the system.” 

Darlene MacDonald, Katri’s supervisor at Layton’s Taxi for the past three months, said Katri was a “kind and gentle person” who was working multiple jobs to help out his family. 

“If there was something he could do to make money, he’d be doing that on top of everything else that he did,” she told VICE World News. “You walk through the door and he could make you laugh just because he always had a smile on his face.” 

MacDonald said Katri had finished working his shift the night he was killed and went to a friend’s house after. 

“Everybody’s very worried because they don’t know what’s going on, because the person of interest that they did have in custody, they had had to let them go,” she said. 

According to CBC News, Katri moved to Canada in 2017 to study. Indian newspaper the Tribune said he was from the tiny Bukkanwala village in Punjab. 

According to the Maritime Sikh Society, Katri was the youngest of three siblings; his father died in 1999. 

“Our heart breaks for the mother who raised three children while grieving for her husband and was looking forward to see (her) son flourishing, after all the hard work and struggles,” the organization’s Facebook statement said. 

MacNeil said he could not elaborate as to why he thinks the larger community is safe when no one has been arrested. But he said police have no reason to believe Katri was targeted. He said he’s “comfortable with where we are in the investigation” and that an “adequate number of resources” are being dedicated to the case. However, he said it could be weeks or months before someone is arrested. 

Truro Mayor Bill Mills told VICE World News, “There is nothing as of yet that racism was a motive.” 

He said he and police will march in a vigil for Katri Friday evening and that the Indian flag will be featured on the town’s website. He also said counselling services will be made available to community members. 

Fareed Khan, founder of Canadians United Against Hate, said taxi drivers—many of whom are racialized—are particularly vulnerable. 

“The South Asian community in that area is likely feeling very threatened. And for (police) to say that there’s no threat to the community doesn’t make them feel any less anxious about what might be happening or whether their community is being targeted,” he said. 

“Why attack somebody like that? If robbery was not the motive, there had to be another motive involved.” 

Katri’s friends have started a GoFundMe to raise money to send his body back to India.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.