Officer testifies about pulling over suspects in Whistler murders

Scene of fatal Whistler shooting on July 24, 2022 Photo by Submitted photo

Article content

A Squamish Mountie recalled in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday how he spotted and then pulled over a possible getaway car with two murder suspects inside.

Article content

Testifying at the trial of Gursiman Sahota and Tanvir Khakh, Const. Mark McMahon said he received information about the fatal shooting outside Whistler’s Sundial Hotel just after noon on July 24, 2022.

Article content

Article content

Sahota and Khakh are charged with the first-degree murders of Meninder Dhaliwal and Satindera Gill at the boutique hotel that day.

Article content

Article content

McMahon told Justice Miriam Gropper and 12 jurors that information about a black Chrysler sedan possibly connected to the shooting had been circulated among police.

Article content

Article content

As he was on shift, he set up an observation post in the northern part of Squamish beside the southbound lanes of Highway 99 at Depot Road, he testified. He was alone inside his marked RCMP truck with his lights flashing at the time.

Article content

“Given the fact it was potential shooting up in Whistler or a reported shooting, I put on my body armour as well — my hard body armour — for my protection,” he said, in response to questions from Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard.

Article content

At about 12:55 p.m., McMahon saw a black Chrysler sedan heading toward Squamish. He pulled out with his lights flashing and was a few vehicles behind the suspects as traffic was “heavy,” he testified.

Article content

By 1:03 p.m., the Chrysler had pulled over at Garibaldi Road, the trial heard.

Article content

McMahon said Khakh — whose identity he learned later — was driving. Another man was in the front passenger seat.

Article content

At first he couldn’t see the three passengers in the back because “the windows were up, and they were very dark,” McMahon said.

Article content

Article content

Montrichard asked the constable if he had any concerns while standing beside the parked Chrysler waiting for backup.

Article content

Article content

“I kept seeing the male furthest from me in the rear, so behind the front passenger seat … Mr. Sahota, I learned later, but I kept seeing him fidgeting and fiddling with something around his lap with his hands, and I had to ask him repeatedly to stop moving his hands and put them somewhere I could see them.”

Article content

McMahon agreed with Montrichard that he and another officer seized items of clothing from all five suspects that day.

Article content

Earlier Wednesday, Cpl. Jaehun Lee testified that a preliminary test done on Sahota’s shoes showed the possible presence of blood.

Article content

He said that on July 24, he was tasked with photographing and swabbing items of clothing seized from Sahota and Khakh after the arrests.

Article content

The preliminary “hemastix” tests conducted on Sahota’s shoes indicated the possible presence of blood in six spots, Lee said.

Article content

He agreed with Crown prosecutor Fatemeh Nejatali that he then swabbed those spots for additional laboratory testing that was required for confirmation of blood.