A 27-year-old man of Punjabi descent has been arrested and charged in Surrey, Canada after a shooting that police say is linked to ongoing racketeering-related violence in the area.The accused has been identified as Jaskaran Saroi and was taken into custody by the Surrey Police Extortion Response Team after a search warrant was executed at a residential property in the city.According to police, the incident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on April 13 near 94A Avenue and 127th Street, when shots were fired into an occupied home. The house was damaged, but no one was hurt.Surrey Police said in a statement that investigators were able to identify the suspicious vehicle, which led to further investigation and ultimately the issuance of a court-approved warrant.
The arrest was made with the assistance of the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team and other SPS units.Saroi was charged with discharging a firearm at a location while knowing or being reckless in relation to someone being inside. He remains in custody and is scheduled for a bail hearing.Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski described the incident as serious, warning of the dangers posed by such attacks.
Lipinski called the shooting a “very serious crime” and said incidents of shootings into occupied homes pose a significant threat to public safety.Police also released Saroi’s photo publicly, saying it may help identify others linked to suspected extortion networks operating in the area. Surrey has seen a rise in extortion-related violence in recent years, with members of the South Asian community, especially those of Indian origin, often targeted, according to the Indian Panorama newspaper.