On the morning of September 30th, Manpreet Singh went to the Tsawwassen Mills mall with his family to shop for an upcoming trip to India. They parked at entrance #1 behind the Nike store. As Manpreet got out of his car he saw a man, who was driving a pickup truck and pulling a trailer, pull into the parking lot they were in. His cousin, Rajveer Singh Brar, who shows up to the scene later helps translate Manpreet’s account of what happened next;

“My auntie was doing prayers in the car. Manpreet got out of the car, he was stretching out, he looked around and he saw the pickup truck with the trailer hit his car. He was thinking it might be an accident or he might be taking a long left turn.”

At around 10:15am the driver struck Manpreet’s car with the back of his truck while the trailer hit two other cars. Manpreet’s car slammed into the parked car next to him, with his 4 family members including 10 month old daughter inside.

“And then Manpreet started waving his hands at the driver trying to make him aware that he is hitting something. But he just kept making eye contact with Manpreet, and then he backed up and hit him again. The family were terrified. It happened so fast, so quick. They didn’t have time to react. If Manpreet didn’t jump out of the way he would have gotten hit.”

Rajveer says Manpreet and his family could have gotten a lot more hurt had he not parked where he did, “He was lucky he just parked between two cars. If there wasn’t any cars around, the driver would have hit him because he was just standing outside. It’s terrifying.”

After the driver hit Manpreet’s car the second time he drove off in, what Manpreet described, a fleeing manner, “After he hit Manpreet the second time, the driver took a sharp left turn to exit the parking lot. Like, he just ran away. This is not a medical emergency, because if you have a medical emergency you would hit something once and then stop somewhere. But he took a sharp left turn, and then the other people that got hit were about 200 meters away.” Manpreet called 911 immediately, and was told someone would meet him.

At around 10:25am and before 10:30am, the driver had arrived at entrance #3 and drove forward into a Truth and Reconciliation Day crowd gathered for a scheduled unveiling of two house posts. The driver killed 3 people including two Tsawwassen First Nation Elders, Virginia Splockton and wilapiya Barb Joe. The third victim, 64 year old Gwenyth Brigit Dwyn, died in hospital a week later. Manpreet and his family did not hear or see the second incident occur.

At 10:31am there was an emergency dispatch call. By 10:45am there was visible presence of on-scene response including police and ambulance. When first responders arrived, the driver received medical treatment and was transported to hospital. At this point Manpreet and his family see police cars drive past them and were confused why they didn’t stop for them.

At around 11:00am police came to Manpreet and his family to take their report. The police informed them that the driver who struck them, hit the second group at the other entrance. Rajveer showed up shortly after to pickup the family.

At 11:30am, 2 hours after the second incident, Delta police said the driver appeared to have had a “medical incident”, adding that the day’s events had nothing to do with the collision.

Sometime in the late afternoon, the driver was released from hospital after investigators concluded an interview. No charges were sworn against him, and his name has not been released to the public.

At 5:15pm Delta councillor, Dylan Kruger, repeated the Delta police’s account of the incident on CBC Vancouver with Ian Hanomansing.

The family said that by evening they were heartbroken by what the police and media we’re calling the driver’s actions, “We all checked the news by 11pm that night and they were calling this a medical emergency. Nobody was talking about our family, like that this incident never happened… We are sad for the others he hit just 200 meters away.”

Manpreet and his whole family do not think this incident was a medical emergency, and not only that, they believe the driver was racially motivated, “There were two white guys, witnesses, at Manpreet’s incident, that were walking towards the mall. And the driver didn’t go towards them, like he didn’t target them. We think it’s more of a racist thing.”

The Delta police posted a press release yesterday, their first communication on the incident since October 1st. They don’t report any new information, though they seem to have known about Manpreet’s family being the first victims of the driver, “This work includes examining the movements of the involved vehicle on the Tsawwassen mills property before the pedestrians were struck, including an earlier collision. Investigators have not reached any final conclusions regarding the cause of the collisions.” Withstanding the information from Manpreet’s family’s report, Sgt. Mike Whiteley goes on to say that there is no evidence to prove this was a targeted attack. “Based on the evidence reviewed to date, investigators have not identified evidence indicating that the collision was targeted or ideologically motivated.”

Canadian denialists have targeted Indigenous communities in this area in the past. As recently as 2022, Richard Albert Manuel drove his blue chevrolet silverado into 4 people at a Residential School Survivors march in Mission. Witnesses say he made racist comments and threats first and yelled at marchers to “get over residential schools”. Then left the scene. He was convicted in September 2024 of “dangerous operation of a motor vehicle”. Manuel did not spend one day in jail instead had a curfew and wasn’t allowed to drive for a year.

On October 9th, the Tsawwassen First Nation released this statement, “In this time of profound grief, we honor the lives of wilapiya Barb Joe and Virginia Splockton. The legacy of these two beautiful women lives on in the teachings they shared, the relationships they nurtured, and the countless lives they touched.” They added, “We are in active communication with the Delta police department about the ongoing investigation and await the results. Please reach out to them if you have any questions or information you may have.” Delta police and Councillor Kruger have not responded to She(Bites) Media requests for questions or comments.

With the help of Rajveer, Manpreet went to their local independent radio station, Sher-e-Punjabi Radio, on October 1st to share what Manpreet and his family experienced in hopes people would make the connection. “We think it’s important that the community knows what happened.”

Story by Mandalena Lewis