A 32-year-old man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Harsimrat Randhawa, a 21-year-old Indian student in Canada, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying. Hamilton Police said Jerdaine Foster was taken into custody in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Tuesday.
According to Acting Det-Sgt Daryl Reid, as quoted by CBC News, Foster has also been charged with three counts of attempted murder. Police said he was previously known to them and had connections to Hamilton, Halton, and Niagara regions, often staying in short-term rental properties.
Randhawa, a second-year physiotherapy student at Mohawk College, was struck by a stray bullet on April 17 while standing near a bus stop at Upper James Street and South Bend Road. She had reportedly just stepped off a bus and was waiting to cross the street after visiting a local gym when she was shot.
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Police believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute involving at least seven people in four cars, with gunfire exchanged between vehicles. “Harsimrat was an innocent bystander,” Reid said , according to PTI. “She was simply trying to make her way home when she was struck and killed.”
Authorities said at least two guns were involved in the incident.
No other arrests have been made so far.
“The investigation is still ongoing, and we will do everything in our power to identify, locate and arrest all these people that are involved in this death,” Reid added.
(With inputs from PTI)
