‘Sadness, irony’: Ripudaman Singh Malik’s family speaks out, after charges laid in his death

The family of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was shot and killed in Surrey earlier this month, is in shock and mourning. They are speaking out, now that charges have been laid in his death.

Malik, who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India bombings, was killed on July 14 in what police say was a targeted hit. Investigators believe the attackers waited for him before shooting him several times outside his family business. Police believe Malik was alone in his car at the time.

“It’s still a shock. We’re still expecting to pick up the phone and call him,” said Gurminder Kaur Singh, Malik’s daughter-in-law.

Read more: Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in Air India bombing, killed in Surrey

She says the family is still processing the death.

“There’s sadness, irony that it is to youth — relatively young — who have been charged and arrested in this case because he spent his life in talking about education and how important education was to keep us off of these type of paths,” Singh said.

Tanner Fox, 21, and Jose Lopez, 23, are both charged with first-degree murder in Malik’s death.

In 2005, Malik was acquitted of mass murder and conspiracy charges in connection to the June 23, 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182. The tragedy claimed the lives of 280 Canadians, along with 86 children.

Air India Flight 182 was headed from Toronto to London when a bomb detonated and the plane crashed near Ireland, killing all 329 people on board.

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• Ripudaman Singh Malik shooting suspects waited for victim: homicide team

Singh says she was not made aware of a motive behind her 75-year-old father-in-law’s death. She adds she was not told whether there could be a connection between the Air India bombings and the deadly shooting.

“The stories of those victims and those families deserve to be told. But when it comes to my dad and constantly the taglines being that, even in this, when he is the victim … We look beyond it.”

Singh wants Malik to be remembered as a business-savvy man who cared about his community and helped open a number of Khalsa schools in B.C.

“Justice for us is to serve the community and to continue his vision and that we be able to do that. That is our prayer. That is it’s no easy feat. It’s no easy task.”

– With files from Hana Mae Nassar, Charlie Carey and Martin MacMahon