Life sentence for second hit man who killed former Air India suspect Malik
Posted March 7, 2025 12:16 pm.
Last Updated March 7, 2025 10:19 pm.
Jose Lopez — one of the two men who pleaded guilty to the killing of acquitted Air India Bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik in Surrey almost three years ago — has been sentenced to life in prison.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!It brings a three-year-long legal saga to an end — with Lopez’s conviction joining Tanner Fox’s conviction in January. Both men are now serving 20 years without eligibility of parole.
Video and photo evidence and a joint statement of facts show Fox and Lopez worked together to shoot and kill Malik in his car on July 14, 2022. They did reconnaissance a day ahead of the killing, wore disguises, and used a stolen getaway car with changed plates, later found burned in a laneway.
Malik is often named in the media as an acquitted suspect in the Air India Bombings, but his family wants him to be remembered as much more than that.
He was also the founder of the Khalsa School Canada and the Khalsa Credit union.
Victim impact statements read in court Friday by family were nearly identical to what was heard during Fox’s sentencing. Family members extolled the virtues of the victim as a father and community leader, and questioned why the hired assassins did what they did and who paid them to do it.
Lopez will be eligible for parole in July of 2042.
