The family of an Indian business student shot dead while he worked through Christmas at a Surrey convenience store says he was a happy-go-lucky man who called Canada his "dream land."
Alok Gupta, 27, was killed on Sunday afternoon while he worked at Ken's Grocery on 96 Avenue. Police say he was covering the holiday shift as a favour to his employers so that they could spend Christmas with their family.
Gupta's brother-in-law Nitin Bhutani said he spoke to him as he made his way to work about an hour before the shooting.
"He was in jolly, happy mood," Bhutani told CTV News in a phone interview from his home in Germany.
"We were just joking about his marriage plans.... We said OK, ‘When do you get your marriage and all that stuff?'"
Gupta had started working at the shop just a few months before he was killed, and was studying at Kwantlen University to supplement the Master's degree in business administration he had earned back home in India. He was getting "excellent grades" and was close to the top of the class, according to Bhutani.
"He was a very happy-go-lucky person. Before he settled down, he wanted to make his career, then he can get married and he can have kids," Bhutani said, adding that he never knew his brother-in-law be in conflict with anyone.
Gupta found the convenience store job through a distant relative, and had been warned not to provoke any neighbourhood "rowdies" if they shoplifted or demanded cash, Bhutani said.
Still, the young man assured his family that he was living in a safe place.
"He told us that it was his dream land," Bhutani said.
"He said, ‘Nitin, why don't you come here in Canada. The people are so nice, they're so helping.'"
Now Bhutani wishes he had warned Gupta to be careful.
"It's a big shock for us," he said. "The days have never looked so long as they do now."
A cousin who lives in Calgary has arrived in B.C. to speak with police and bring Gupta's remains back to his parents in India for cremation.
The family is still in shock, according to Bhutani, and their main concern is that police arrest Gupta's murderer.
"We want that Alok should get justice and the guy who is at large, who did that, should be put behind bars," Bhutani said.
Police have yet to make an arrest in the shooting, but say they do not believe it was gang-related.
With files from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber
