VANCOUVER, B.C. - A 26-year-old Vancouver man has been sentenced to 46 months in prison after the vigilance of two Vancouver Police officers led to his arrest moments after shots were fired near Helmcken and Seymour streets in August 2024, closing a two-year case that began with a patrol officer’s instincts on a hot summer day.
Nobody was injured in the incident.
Officers noticed a man dressed for cold weather on a hot day
On August 16, 2024, two Vancouver Police officers were on patrol in the downtown area when they observed a man they believed was acting suspiciously. The officers noticed the man was wearing clothing inconsistent with the hot weather and was repeatedly checking his surroundings.
One of the officers followed the man on foot. The suspect turned a corner out of view, and at that moment the pursuing officer heard gunshots.
Both officers immediately located and challenged the suspect at gunpoint until additional officers arrived and took him into custody. He was arrested at the scene, minutes after the shots were fired.
Guilty plea and a 46-month sentence
On December 15, 2025, Harmesh Raghbir Singh Sandhu, 26, entered a guilty plea to two charges:
- Possession of a loaded restricted firearm
- Careless use of a firearm
On September 4, 2026, Sandhu was sentenced to a global sentence of 46 months. A global sentence is a single combined prison term covering all of the charges together, rather than separate sentences for each one. The court also imposed a 10-year firearms and weapons prohibition, a DNA order, which requires him to provide a DNA sample for the national DNA data bank, and a forfeiture order, under which the firearm and related property are seized by the Crown.
"This was a patrol-led investigation from start to finish," said Constable Darren Wong. "The vigilance and instincts of these patrol officers led to the immediate arrest of an armed suspect and ultimately helped secure this conviction."
Why this case matters beyond downtown Vancouver
The intersection of Helmcken and Seymour sits in one of the densest parts of downtown Vancouver, surrounded by homes, businesses, theatres and transit routes used every day by people from across Metro Vancouver, including thousands of Surrey residents who commute into the downtown core for work, school and appointments.
Shots fired in a crowded downtown area carry a risk that goes far beyond the people directly involved: a single stray round can travel through windows, vehicles and crowded sidewalks. In this case, police say no bystander was hurt, an outcome they credit to how quickly the two patrol officers recognized the warning signs and acted.
The Vancouver Police Department has repeatedly pointed to proactive patrol work, officers watching for behaviour that does not fit the surroundings, as one of the main ways armed suspects are stopped before a dispute turns into a shooting. This case, the department says, is an example of that approach working exactly as intended: the arrest took minutes, not days, and the investigation that followed ended in a conviction and a prison sentence.
Sandhu’s sentence also removes a loaded restricted firearm from circulation and bars him from possessing firearms or weapons for a decade after his release.
Source: Vancouver Police Department news release, “Vancouver Police officers’ vigilance leads to firearms conviction,” October 26, 2026.
