
Ottawa: The man who fired the stray bullet that killed 21-year-old Indian student Harsimrat Randhawa in Canada has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, an official said.
Hamilton Police, who arrested 32-year-old Jerdaine Foster at Niagara Falls in Ontario on Tuesday, also charged him with three counts of attempted murder, CBC News quoted Acting Det-Sgt Daryl Reid as saying in a news conference.
Randhawa, a second-year student enrolled in a physiotherapy course in Mohawk College, was hit by a stray bullet while standing near a bus stop at the intersection of Upper James Street and South Bend Road on April 17. She succumbed to the injury in the hospital.
The Indian student had reportedly just gotten off the bus and was waiting to cross the street when the bullet struck her.
At least seven people in four cars were involved in a dispute that led to the shooting. Shots were fired between the cars and at least two guns were involved, the report said.
“Harsimrat was an innocent bystander,” the report quoted Reid as saying on Thursday, “She was simply trying to make her way home from a local gym when she was struck and killed.”
No other arrests have been made in the case.
“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 said.
He added that Foster, who has ties to Hamilton, Halton and Niagara regions and lived in short-term rental properties, was previously known to police.