Man dies trying to break up Vancouver nightclub brawl
Friends have planned a candlelight vigil for a 23-year-old Vancouver nightclub promoter who died early Saturday after he tried to break up a fight.
Homicide investigators said that shortly before 2:30 a.m., a fight broke out inside the Cabana Lounge at 1159 Granville St. and then spilled onto the street. The victim was identified by Vancouver police as Kalwinder Thind, who was working at the club.
Friends later identified him as Kris Thind and said he started working at Cabana as a promoter in the past month.
Thind stepped in to break up the fight, but was stabbed and later died in hospital, Sgt. Jason Robillard said in an email. Several people have been arrested and homicide investigators are trying to figure out what happened.
They are asking for anyone who witnessed the fight to call police at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8478.
Cabana management did not return requests for comment. Ritesh Maisuria, one of Thind’s co-workers at the nightclub, said in a text message that Thind “was a great guy trying to do the right thing.”
“Everyone is saddened and heartbroken with his loss,” he said.
According to a blog that Thind wrote a couple of years ago, he was born in Vancouver on Sept. 5, 1994, and graduated from H.J. Cambie Secondary School in Richmond.
Thind worked at Richmond Chrysler over the past year before he was hired at Cabana. His friends at the dealership described him as “family.”
Saturday morning, they made a memorial with a candle and photo of Thind. They shared fond memories, many about his sharp sense of humour.
Sales manager Danny Mouro, 43, said they knew Thind as “Kal” and were devastated when they heard news that he was gone. He described Thind as a “great, funloving” man.
“[He] always came to work with a smile, made everybody laugh, always telling jokes,” Mouro said. “Great, great guy. Everybody loved him.”
This is not the first time a fight has led to a major incident at the Cabana Lounge. Two years ago, a 22-year-old North Vancouver man suffered serious injuries after he was stabbed in a brawl outside the Cabana Lounge.