It’s been less than two weeks since the bodies of Jaskarn “Jason” Jhutty and Jaskaran “Jassi” Singh Bhangal were found gunned down on the side of a rural road in Surrey, but their deaths have already had an outsized impact on the city.
The age of the victims - Jhutty was 16 and Bhangal was 17 - coupled with the fatigue many residents feel as a result of the city’s longstanding struggle with gang violence mobilized thousands on Wednesday.
On Saturday night, organizers hoped for a similar turnout for a candlelight vigil in the boys’ memory.
“Our community needs to kind of wake up and stop all this,” said Mandeep Bhangal, Jassi’s aunt. “We need answers for why it’s only happening in Surrey.”
Bhangal and other organizers of Saturday’s vigil - including Doug Elford, president of the Surrey Community Alliance - say they want more police in and around the city’s schools, more anti-gang efforts, and, perhaps, a new municipal police department for Surrey.
Currently, the city is home to the country’s largest RCMP detachment - and its second-highest crime rate. On average, there are 15 homicides in Surrey each year.
Elford told CTV News a municipal police department would give local leaders more control over policing in their city, as well as foster a greater connection between officers and the communities they serve.
“New West has it, Vancouver has it, Delta has their own police department,” Bhangal said. “Hopefully something like that where we have our own police officers who know what’s going on in the city of Surrey.”
Both Bhangal and Elford said they’re dissatisfied with the efforts police and elected officials in Surrey have been making to stop the violence.
“We've lost too many children,” Elford said. “People are still getting shot, and they're still getting killed. And these last few children that were murdered have really struck a nerve in the community.”
Bhangal said those in power aren’t doing enough.
“If they were, this wouldn’t have happened, right? There’s no change, so maybe they need to do something different,” she said. “Maybe there’s a different approach they need to follow.”
Police say the killings of the two teens were targeted. So far, no arrests have been made.
For Bhangal, the ultimate goal of Saturday night’s vigil - and whatever work comes after it - is to ensure that these sorts of killings stop happening.
“We've lost our son,” she said. “He's not coming back. We know that. But maybe we can make some changes so that another family doesn't lose their son.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald
