Gunshots were fired into the home of Victoria-based rising Punjabi music star AP Dhillon early Monday morning.
On Monday afternoon, the home on Ravenwood Road in Colwood was a crime scene, with several bullet holes marked off and remnants of two burned vehicles in the driveway.
The garage door was slightly caved in. Inside, a glass staircase railing leading downstairs had shattered. A faint smell of burnt plastic lingered in the air outside.
However, the home was not taped off and there was no police presence.
A video posted by media outlets in India showed a person firing 14 shots into the front windows and garage of the home, while a black truck and a smaller vehicle burned.
Neighbour Diane Read said she woke up in her bed to the sound of gunshots. “I knew it wasn’t firecrackers.”
As Read made her way to her upstairs kitchen window to look outside, a car sped down Ravenwood, she said.
She looked over and saw “little balls of flame” around a truck parked in the driveway next door.
That truck was burnt beyond repair by the time first responders arrived, she said. Remnants of the vehicle identified the truck as a Dodge 1500 eTorque.
A second car parked in the driveway, a Roadster-type vehicle, was also burnt, she said.
The only person in the house at the time, Indo-Canadian rapper Shinda Kahlon, a close associate of Dhillon’s, was unharmed, Read said.
Two neighbours said their security cameras captured a black vehicle driving around the cul-de-sac at 1:08 a.m. on Monday around the time the shots rang out.
Police arrived minutes later and the street was closed off for several hours.
Dhillon could not be reached for comment.
On Monday evening, he posted a short statement on social media alluding to the incident.
”I’m safe. My people are safe. Thank you to everyone who reached out. Your support means everything,” he said. “Peace and love to all.”
Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi, who had been briefed on the matter by West Shore RCMP Superintendent Todd Preston on Monday morning, said the suspects in the attack are known to police. “To the best of his knowledge, it was a targeted, gang-related type of crime,” Kobayashi said. “He couldn’t give me any more details.”
The RCMP will not comment on the case before Tuesday, an RCMP E Division spokesperson said.
Kobayashi called it a shocking and atrocious incident. “We have a very low crime severity index, so having something like this just catches you off guard.”
The home is owned by Amritpal Singh Dhillon, who purchased it in June 2022 for $1.475 million, according to B.C. Assessment.
Dhillon attended high school in Greater Victoria and studied at Camosun College.
Neighbours said he attends Christmas socials held on the block.
Last month, the 31-year-old Dhillon signed a contract with Universal Music Canada and Republic Records, which is a music producer for Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and John Mellencamp.
At the time, Republic Records founder Monte Lipman said Dhillon was “a shrewd visionary with a global reach that has already sparked a cultural revolution.”
Dhillon moved to Canada from India in 2015 and in 2023 was the first Punjabi-language artist to perform at a Canadian Juno Awards event.
According to the Times of India, an India-based gang has claimed responsibility for the shooting, stating on social media that the gang was upset Dhillon has collaborated on a music video with Bollywood actor Salman Khan. They said the gang’s leader has a long-standing feud with Khan.
This newspaper was unable to independently verify the claim.
In April this year, shots were fired into Khan’s Mumbai home.
A similar incident occurred at a West Vancouver property on Nov. 24, 2023, that was believed to be the home of a Bollywood singer and actor, Gippy Grewal.
— With a file from Kim Bolan
