October 28,2025
RED FM News Desk
The three men charged in a brazen gang-related shooting at a golf course near UBC have received lengthy prison sentences.
Deandre Baptist, Balraj Basra, and Iqbal Kang were each sentenced to a minimum of 17 years for the October 2022 killing of Vishal Walia at University Golf Club, according to a Tuesday news release from the Lower Mainland’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).
Basra, the latest to be sentenced, was convicted of first-degree murder and arson on October 23, following a trial that began September 10. He received a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder, along with a concurrent five-year term for arson.
Baptiste and Kang were also charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to lesser offenses. Baptiste pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May and was sentenced on September 12 to life with no parole eligibility for 17 years. Kang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder on September 10 and was sentenced to 17 years, minus credit for pre-sentence custody, with a concurrent five-year term for arson.
Walia was shot and killed on October 17, 2022, around 9:50 a.m. University RCMP responded and found him suffering fatal gunshot wounds. Less than 30 minutes later, following a vehicle fire in a nearby laneway, all three suspects were arrested and have remained in custody since.
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