
A vehicle associated with a Punjabi concert tour came under fire in a drive-by shooting in Canada's Abbotsford, British Columbia, prompting conflicting claims over whether actor and singer Ammy Virk was among those targeted.
The artiste’s family has denied reports suggesting that he was caught in the shooting. Virk’s father, Kuljit Singh, said the singer and his family were safe, according to NDTV. He clarified that his son had not been fired upon, claiming that the attack was aimed at the convoy belonging to the organisers of the show, the report noted.
Singh, while speaking from Lohar Majra village in Patiala, said the actor and his family have no disputes or conflicts with anyone, as per Hindustan Times.
Initial reports from Canadian media and other sources, however, said Virk was travelling in the bulletproof vehicle that was targeted, along with the show’s promoter. The promoter’s father owns a Punjabi radio station based in Surrey, which had also reportedly been targeted in a similar shooting earlier.
Ammy Virk performed at Rogers Forum in Abbotsford on September 5, with the shooting reportedly taking place later that night as he was leaving the venue.
The Abbotsford Police said a vehicle travelling through the 2500 block of McCallum Road was targeted shortly after 11 PM on September 5.
"It was shot at by occupants of another vehicle. Preliminary information indicates that individuals in a dark-coloured SUV fired multiple shots at the victim vehicle," the Abbotsford Police wrote in a post on X.
The police said nobody was injured in the shooting.
"Shortly after the shooting, AbbyPD officers responded to a report of a vehicle fire in the 2400 block of Sunnyside Place. Upon arrival, officers found an SUV fully engulfed in flames. The AbbyPD Major Crime Unit has assumed conduct of the investigation and is working to determine the motive for the shooting and whether the vehicle fire is connected to the incident," the police further said.
The police have not established a link between the two incidents.
Ammy Virk, 34, is an Indian singer, actor and producer who has established himself in the Punjabi music industry. Born on May 11, 1992, in Lohar Majra village of Nabha in Patiala, he pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from Punjabi University.
Virk made his acting debut as Hakam in the 2015 Punjabi historical romance film Angrej. He later established the production house Villagers Film Studio and the distribution company In House Group in 2017.
In an interview with The Tribune, Virk credited his mother for encouraging him to pursue singing, saying, "It was my mother who told me that I should try singing. I have learned it. I am a singer because of my mother and I love her for having faith in me."
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X
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