VERNON: Bridal bouquets meant to signify joy became makeshift funeral wreaths on a suburban roadside here last week.

A steady stream of mourners many complete strangers left floral remembrances to nine murdered member of the Gakhal family slain on Good Friday.

The Gakhal’s were preparing for a family wedding when the guaman struck, leaving a trail of carnage in the second worst mass murder in Canadian history,

Satwant Dhindsa, president of the North Okanagan Sikh Temple, said the close knit community is closing ranks after the killings.

“Every member is stunned,” said Dhindsa.

“The hurt this mad man has left behind can’t be forgotten.”

Spurned husband Mark Chahal, 30, arrived in Vernon from Bombay Thursday, revenge on his mind. He began his killing spree the next day as wedding preparations went ahead at the modest home at 4104 Okanagan Ave. “I don’t think there was any doubt in anybody’s mind what his intentions were when he left, Vancouver,” said Sgt. Doug Hartl of Vernon RCMP.

As children in the quiet neighbor-hood” of Mission Hills watched.

Chahal, armed with a 40calibre semi-Automatic handgun and a .38 calibre handgun, walked up to his estranged opened fire as the 50yearold washed ‘his car.

After fatally wounding Karnail, Chahal went looking for his prime victim, his ex-wife Rajwar, 26.

He shot her, then turned his guns on the rest of her family. Mother Darshan, 45, perished, along with brother Jaspal, 17, and four sisters: Harvinder, 17, Kalwinder, 21, Jasbir, 30, and’ the bride to be Balwinder, 24, soninlaw Balgit (Roger) Saran, 33, of Abbotsford, also was killed. Two other family members were shot but survived: Saran’s mother Gurmail, 60, and Saran’s daughter Justine, 6,

Chahal became the tenth death when he returned to his room in the Globe Hotel and shot himself with the semi-automatic. Saran’s other daughters Brittany and Courtenay Justine’s twin were miraculously unharmed in the attack. ‘They are being cared for by friends,

“We feel he had a chance to if he wanted to Kill the three girls,” said RCMP Sgt. Doug Hartl,

“For reasons only known to him he did not.’ The gunman reloaded twice in the three minute massacre, At least 28 shell casings were found.

A brief, vague suicide note apologized to the family.

The groom to be, a Toronto man known only as Jay, was notified in Goklen as he drove to Vernon for his wedding. Many of the 400 expected guests arrived unaware of the tragedy. Friends remember ‘good people

The slain Gakhal family was a well-liked clan and one of the oldest Sikh families living here.

Friends and relatives of the murdered family fondly recalled yesterday how patriarch Kamail Gakhal settled in Vernon about 23 years ago after leaving the Indian village which bore the family name,

He came here and worked very hard in the sawmill,” recalled Satwant Dhindsa, president of the Gurdwara,

Karnail and wife Darshan worked hard to ensure their five daughters and’ sole son pursued good educations, The couple was also integral in the building of the Gurdwara in their neighborhood. Balwinder, who was to be married this past weekend, was a pharmacist at People’s Drug Mart in Ender by.

“She was planning a career and a family,” said Balwinder’s friend, Monica Martinez,

Kalvinder, 21, was studying criminology at University College of the Fraser Valley. And Harvinder, 17, planned to study chemical engineering after graduating from Clarence Fulton secondary,

“We were both on the superstar committee,” said sobbing friend Tara Rothery, 18, “She was hilarious and very smart. She would have made a great chemical engineer.”

Jaspal, 14, was also an excellent student who played on Fulton’ bas ketball team.

“They’re beyond help now,” said family friend Dave Nahal. “We’ll remember them for the good people they were.

Killer obsessed with firearms

The man police say killed nine members of his estranged wife’s family obsessed with guns, his relatives say. Mark Vijay Chahal, a 30yearold accountant, had few friends, was tightly focused on making money and determined to find the “right” wife through an arranged marriage, said Don Chahal, a25yearoldcousin who last saw the Killer at his wedding reception about two years ago.

After completing his accounting: training in Prince George and moving to the Vancouver area, Mark Chahal turned his attention to money, the cousin said.

While still in his early 20s, Chahal bought a house in Surrey and rented it out while he lived in a much smaller, cheaper apartment, even after his marriage.

The couple’s parents probably di know each other, Don Chahal said, adding Chahal let it be known in B.C,’s tightknit Sikh community that he was looking for a bride.

Chahal was introduced to Rajwar Kaur Gakhal, the second daughter of Kamail Singh Gakhal, 50, and his wife Darshan, 45.

But last December, just eight months after her wedding, she returned home to her family in Vernon, having reported her abuse to the RCMP, But she told the force she simply wanted police to be aware of the situation and did not want a fall investigation. (Courtesy Canadian News Source)

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 10, 1996