RCMP officer describes pull-over of suspects in Whistler double murder

An RCMP officer testified Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court about the moments following a fatal shooting outside Whistler's Sundial Hotel on July 24, 2022, just after noon.

Const. Mark McMahon was stationed at an observation post in northern Squamish beside southbound Highway 99 at Depot Road when he received information that a black Chrysler sedan was possibly connected to the shooting. At about 12:55 p.m., he spotted a matching vehicle heading toward Squamish. McMahon pulled out with lights flashing and pulled over the car at Garibaldi Road by 1:03 p.m. — roughly eight minutes after the shooting.

Tanvir Khakh was driving. Another man sat in the front passenger seat, and three passengers occupied the back, their windows dark. McMahon saw a male in the rear — later identified as Gursiman Sahota — fidgeting and fiddling with something around his lap. McMahon asked Sahota repeatedly to stop moving his hands and place them where he could see them. McMahon and another officer then seized items of clothing from all five suspects.

Corporal Jaehun Lee testified that preliminary hemastix tests on Sahota's shoes showed possible presence of blood in six spots. Lee swabbed those spots for laboratory confirmation. Crown prosecutor Fatemeh Nejatali said in opening submissions last week that Dhaliwal's blood was found on shoes and pants worn by both Khakh and Sahota. The results of laboratory testing confirming or denying the presence of blood have not been stated in this testimony.

Both Sahota and Khakh are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Meninder Dhaliwal and Satindera Gill. None of the claims have been tested in court.