Crime family member one of two men killed in shooting

A member of the notorious Sanghera crime family was one of two men gunned down in East Vancouver on Thursday night.

Navdip Singh Sanghera, 32, was wounded in the shooting near East 31st Avenue and Inverness Street around 9:30 p.m. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, but died of his injuries.

A second Vancouver resident, 49, was also killed. He was also known to police, who are withholding his name until his family has been notified.

Both the major crime unit and gang squad are working on the murders, the city’s fifth and sixth homicides of 2017. The two victims were found inside a vehicle just half a block from Sanghera’s home on Ross Street.

Sanghera, his brother Sav, cousin Boby and uncle Udham were all arrested in 2009 as part of a Vancouver police crackdown on a violent gang war on the city’s south slope between rival groups.

Navdip and Boby Sanghera were convicted on four firearms charges after they were pulled over by police on Nov. 8, 2008 with three loaded, semi-automatic handguns in a secret compartment of their Chrysler.

Sav Sanghera was convicted of transferring a combat semi-automatic weapon to another person on Jan. 31, 2009.

Navdip Sanghera was sentenced to nine years in jail, minus six years credit for his pre-trial custody.

At his trial a Vancouver police sergeant testified that the Sangheras were battling two rival gangs — one that included Aman Manj and his associates. The other was then identified as the Malli-Buttar group.

The head of that gang, Tejinder Malli, was killed two years ago to the day — March 10, 2014.

Manjit Singh Buttar, the other rival gang leader, remains in pre-trial custody on gun charges.

A Sanghera family member hung up on a Postmedia reporter looking for comment Friday.

Vancouver police spokesman Randy Fincham said investigators, working to determine the specifics around the shooting, were speaking to witnesses and canvassing for video nearby.

Investigators are looking at potential gang connections as well as working with other police agencies, Fincham said.