Man shot to death after fender bender
Police hesitant to call incident a case of road rage
By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun April 28, 2011 Comments (19)

Manbir Kajla, who was shot to death Wednesday, and his bride Pavan.
Photograph by: Photo contributed, PNG

A young newlywed was shot to death in Surrey Wednesday night after a fender bender with another car.

Manbir Kajla’s new bride Pavan was with him at the time of the minor collision in the 6900-block of 128th Street, after which a man driving a white SUV argued with Kajla and gunned him down.

Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team said it’s lucky others were not injured given the number of shots fired and that a nearby house was struck with two rounds.

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He said the shooting is devastating for the victim’s wife, who was sitting in the car when the confrontation took place just after 11 p.m.

“It was a recent marriage and then she watches her husband get struck down in a hail of gunfire,” Carr said.

The couple was married in India on March 7th, according to people who knew them.

Carr said investigators have not established a motive for the shooting nor are they commenting on whether the 30-year-old Surrey victim was known to police.


Kajla had three convictions for impaired driving dating back to 2004, according to the Provincial Court database.


Two charges of uttering threats laid in 2006 were later dropped. He was facing two impaired driving counts at the time of his slaying and was due to go to trial in November 2011.

Kajla leased a commercial tractor-trailer with his brother, according to property records.

He and his bride had been out at a “gathering” before the fatal shooting, Carr said.

The couple was travelling south in their white Lexus on 128th in the right lane. The Lexus was following a white SUV that might have been a Ford Explorer, which was in the left lane. The SUV apparently crossed the centre line and came in contact with Kajla’s car, causing minor damage to both vehicles, Carr said.

Kajla stopped his car, got out and walked in front of the SUV and over to the driver’s window.

“Words were exchanged and then bang, bang — multiple rounds shot — and then the victim ran back toward the sidewalk and onto the lawn where he collapsed,” Carr said.

The driver of the SUV, described by police as a South Asian man in his 20s, was seen leaving the area, heading south on 128th Street through 64th Avenue.

Carr said there is no evidence the minor collision led to the shooting and media reports describing it as a possible road-rage slaying are premature.

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“There was a little tiny accident that causes some very minor damage. We don’t know what led up to it. We don’t know what the circumstances were leading up to the time they stopped, so it is difficult to say it is road rage.”

Carr said the wife did not recognize the other vehicle or the person inside it.

“We are still working on a profile of the victim,” Carr said. “At this point of the investigation it is too early to say if there are any links to gangs, drugs, or organized crime.”

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Police are asking anyone that may have seen an erratic driver in a white SUV between 11 p.m. and midnight in the Newton area of Surrey to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448.

kbolan@vancouversun.com

Read Kim Bolan’s blog, The Real Scoop,

at vancouversun.com/bolan
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