- Detective Jag Khosa 

Combined Force Special Enforcement Unit-BC

Late into the night, the parents of a young man struggled to sleep. The mother kept tossing and turning with unsettling thoughts about her son’s whereabouts. She had no knowledge as to whom he was “hanging out” with tonight. His group of friends was constantly changing and this had become a constant source of worry for his parents. Often, the mother found herself awake for hours every night, silently praying for her son’s safety. 

As she closed her eyes to pray once more, the door knocks. Immediately, she opens her eyes thinking her son has returned home safe and sound. Her husband gets up from their bed to answer the door. An eerie feeling consumes his mind as he approaches the door. His hands refuse to open the lock. Another door knock follows and this time, it was much louder. As he reaches out, the handle turns ice cold. He opens the door to realize that it would not be his son waiting before him.

Two uniformed police officers clutch their hats to their chest with grim expressions on their faces. The father assumes that his son has managed to get himself in trouble with the law again. Unfortunately, this time it was not about his son getting arrested.

The officer broke the silence, “Sir, your son has been killed. He was shot just few blocks away from his home.”

As these words echoed in the aging father’s ears, time stopped, voices became distant, and vision blurred. Any words of condolence offered by the police officers were not heard. Feelings of grief, shock, denial, confusion, and disbelief took over his body and soul. From afar, the mother let out a scream and fell to the floor. She had just lost everything she had.

One of the most tragic and traumatic losses that a person can encounter is the death of a child. The death of a child means the loss of more than just a precious life. It represents the loss of future experiences, opportunities, and hope. No parent is prepared for the loss of their child, and if it happens, their world is changed forever. 

Two blocks away from the grieving parents, shots were heard earlier that night. Police cars flooded the scene with lights of red and blue. The seemingly quiet neighbourhood was buzzing as gossiping neighbours waited for answers. There lay the victim of the latest gangland shooting covered in a yellow tarp. He was unmoved and lifeless while drenched in his own pool of blood.

At the house, the victim’s father is still confused. His son’s life flashed through his eyes as if he was watching a film. He sees himself carrying his little boy on his shoulders, holding his son’s hand as he walked him to school for the first time and playing games within the walls of the same house. A hundred such memories flashed through his mind but that’s all they would be – memories. The darkness of the night would never go away. The mother will longer be able to pray for her son’s safe return home – that day would never come.

This is not the story of one family, one victim, or one tragedy. It is the story of hundreds families who have lost their loved ones to the gang war. This is story of those mothers who have become shells of the people they once were, waiting for their sons to return home, knowing they never will. This is the story of the fathers who will no longer be able to impart traditions. This is the story of those sisters who will never be able to tie rakhi on their brother’s wrist. This is the story of those houses where no more celebrations will ever take place. This is the story of anyone who has ever lost a loved one to senseless gang related shootings.

How long will we wait around to see more young men die as a result of senseless gang shootings? Why do we have to wait until the reality hits home before we feel the need to take action? Regardless of the individual role, the consequences of gang wars impact all aspects of our social lives.

After the death of their son, not only did a young man die – from that day onwards, his parents ceased to exist.

There is an emerging situation in Abbotsford, British Columbia where two groups of high school-aged youth are involved in a feud, which has already resulted in numerous police incidents, including property damage to homes and vehicles in the Townline Hill area. This feud has escalated and become a burden on the parents of these kids, the police who deal with the crimes, and the local community at large. These incidents are stemming from a tit-for-tat conflict and have resulted in thousands of dollars of damages to properties in and around Abbotsford. The Abbotsford Police Department say that majority of these young men involved in this conflict are of South Asian descent.  The APD is extremely concerned that the continuing conflict will result in serious injuries or death to people directly and indirectly involved in the dispute.  Even though the incidents primarily involve property damage, it is just the matter of time before someone is seriously hurt. 

On October 2, 2014 an 18 year old male, Harwindip Singh Baringh, was found shot dead in a dark coloured SUV. The neighbours reported hearing 5 to 6 gun shots in the area where this shooting took place. There was lot of speculation in the community that this incident may have been related to the ongoing feud between the two groups,howeverConstable Ian MacDonald, the Abbotsford PD spokesperson, refused to make this connection, due to the ongoing investigation. 

The point is moot whether the shooting and the youth conflict are related. What is inevitable is that this feud will escalate to the point where someone will be seriously injured or killed from what started as merely an insult and has now become a clash between two angry groups who are looking for opportunities to assert their dominance.

“While the knocks on the doors by police officers telling families that their loved ones have been murdered in a gang-related killing are fewer than they once were, we as a community must not think that we can stop focusing on preventing our youth joining gangs and intervening early on in their lives before it is too late,” says Sergeant Lindsey Houghton, spokesperson for the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia. “If we look the other way or think that it won’t be our children who get involved in crime or gangs then those knocks on the door will get more frequent. For the sake of our communities and our children, we need to take action.”

As a community, this is where our focus should be.  We need to band together to stop this feuding before more families pay the ultimate price of losing their loved one. As parents, we need to stop living in denial. We need to get involved and take an active part in the intervention process, which includes a partnership between the parents, police, and the community.  We must take action before another life is lost, and another home goes dark.

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BIO 

Detective. Jag Khosa

Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit 

For the last 8 years, he has been serving as a Police officer starting as an enforcement officer in Alberta and BC, and then transitioning into his current role as a Detective with Organized Crime Agency of BC which operates under the umbrella of Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit - BC (CFSEU-BC).

 At CFSEU, he had an opportunity be part of many major case investigations relating to homicides, international drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and other activities of organized crime groups. These projects were aimed at disrupting and suppressing gangs and organized crime groups across Canada. On the enforcement side, CFSEU-BC has been at the forefront in our fight against Gangs and Organized crime. Detective Khosa believes that this is the right time to place greater emphasis on  raising public awareness by educating parents and youth with knowledge and the appropriate skills that they could use in their own journey towards happy families and safer communities.

He believes that it is imperative to spread the message that we as a community can take an active role at a preventative stage and no one has to fight this battle alone. Turning around a misguided young person starts with one-on-one intervention. Parents who become involved with their child’s life from an early age had a higher chance of keeping their young ones away from negative influence of gangs. This article is his attempt to initiate a dialogue on a subject that needs to be widely discussed.

For more information on gang prevention please visit CFSEU’s website  endganglife.ca