Indian-origin textile tycoon gunned down in Canada just outside his home

A 68-year-old Indian-origin businessman was shot dead in his car in what appeared to be a targeted shooting, outside his home in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Monday morning, prompting a homicide investigation and brief lockdowns at nearby schools, the Canadian authorities said.

Darshan Singh Sahsi, who was originally from Ludhiana, was the president of Canam , which his son Arpan described as one of the world's largest clothing recyclers, CBC news reported.

On Monday morning, Abbotsford Police Patrol officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 31300 block of Ridgeview Drive.

"Upon arrival, officers secured the area and confirmed the incident was confined to a single parked vehicle on the roadway. Inside the vehicle, they discovered a 68-year-old man suffering from life-threatening injuries," Abbotsford Police said in a statement.

Despite lifesaving medical efforts of first responders, the man succumbed to his injuries. No arrests have been made yet.

The shooter waited in a parked car nearby. When Sahsi got into his vehicle, the assailant opened fire and fled in his vehicle.

The shooting's targeted nature has raised questions about potential ties to a wave of extortion attempts against the South Asian community, though police have not confirmed any connection.

Abbotsford Police Department official Paul Walker said the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is taking over the case.

Walker stated that it is too soon to determine a motive or any link to extortion-related crimes, but confirmed that police consider the shooting to have been a targeted attack, CityNews Vancouver reported.

DARSHAN SINGH SAHSI RECEIVED NO EXTORTION CALL

The deceased's son said that the businessman was well-known in the local community, and the family has been receiving moving messages of support.

"Of course we're devastated because it does not make sense to us," Arpan said. "There were no threats, there was no blackmail, there was no extortion," CBC quoted him as saying.

Arpan said his father was a philanthropist who went out of his way to help others, a legacy he hopes to carry on.

"I usually went to work with him every day, so I was supposed to be in that truck today," he said.

According to Vancouver Sun, Sahsi had immigrated to Canada in 1991 from Punjab and started his company with just a handful of employees.

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