BURST
Dramatic video of two people firing guns in the lobby of a Whistler hotel four years ago was played at a B.C. Supreme Court murder trial on Wednesday.
The masked shooters, both dressed in black, appear from out of camera range and fire at two Sundial Hotel guests as they run outside toward their awaiting vehicles before collapsing on the pavement.
Former hotel valet Chris Nash identified himself on the video, explaining to Justice Miriam Gropper and 12 jurors that he bolted from a white BMW SUV that he had just brought to the hotel entrance for one of the victims when the shooting started.
“I managed to beeline it away from the hotel,” Nash explained. “With my back turned, I kept hearing shots. And I thought I was shot in the back of the leg, but this was just … I tore my hamstring trying to move away.”
He called 911 once he thought he was safe and later walked back to the scene, where the two shooting victims lay. Both were hotel guests he had helped earlier in day, he testified.
“One was clearly executed, left on the ground,” Nash said, adding that people were still tending to the second man, who appeared to be responding.
Nash was the first witness at the murder trial of Gursimran Sahota, 28, and Tanvir Khakh, 24. Both are charged with first-degree murder of Meninder Dhaliwal and Satindera Gill, on July 24, 2022 in Whistler Village.
Nash, a native of Australia, said it was a busy sunny Sunday when the shooting happened.
“As I’m getting out of the vehicle, two men sort of came out from a blind spot,” he said, adding that he saw both had handguns.
At first he thought it might be a prank, but as the shots continued, he knew “it was something serious,” he said. He feared he might be targeted since he had been driving one of the victim’s vehicles.
The trial got underway Tuesday with the Crown’s opening submissions, laying out the prosecution’s anticipated case for the three-week trial.
Crown lawyer Fatemeh Nejatali cautioned jurors that her submissions were not evidence, but rather an outline of the evidence expected to be called.
She said that Dhaliwal and Gill, along with three others, had checked into the boutique hotel the day before and were preparing to leave at noon on the Sunday.
“As soon as they stepped outside of the hotel lobby to get their vehicles that had been retrieved by the hotel’s valet attendant, two masked and armed men began shooting at them from very close range,” she said. “Mr. Dhaliwal collapsed after being shot at several times by both gunmen. Both gunmen then continued to shoot bullets into him as they stood over his body. He died at the scene.”
“Very shortly after, Mr. Gill was shot twice, once by each gunman. He too died shortly after.”
She said the gunmen “immediately fled from the scene of the shooting in a waiting vehicle.”
“Not long after, there was a report of a vehicle fire a couple kilometres away from where the shooting happened in another neighbourhood of Whistler. The vehicle matched descriptions of the car used by the two gunmen,” Nejatali said.
Witnesses saw a black sedan leaving from the scene of the vehicle fire with at least two men inside, she said. Police in Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton were provided with a description of the second getaway car.
“Less than an hour after the shootings in Whistler, police officers in Squamish identified and pulled over a brass-black Chrysler 200 sedan,” Nejatali said.
“There were five men inside that vehicle. Two of those men were the accused Mr. Khakh and Mr. Sahota.”
She said of the five, only Khakh and Sahota wore clothing similar to what the killers were wearing.
“Only these two had confirmed gunshot residue on their hands and faces. And DNA analysis identified the presence of Mr. Dhaliwal’s blood — that’s one of the victims — on the shoes and pants worn by both Mr. Khakh and Mr. Sahota,” she said.
“This is a circumstantial case. That means that there will not be a witness who comes before you and identifies these two accused as the two shooters. Instead, you will be asked to consider a number of pieces of evidence, draw reasonable inferences from that evidence, and ultimately consider the total cumulative effect of all that evidence.”
Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social