Man killed in violent Mississauga carjacking remembered as generous, hard working
Posted July 22, 2023 10:21 pm.
Last Updated July 23, 2023 3:00 pm.
A sombre scene in Mississauga as friends and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil in honour of Gurvinder Nath, a food delivery driver who was killed in a violent carjacking earlier this month.
Speakers who gathered at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre recalled a 24-year-old who came to Canada with a lot of dreams only to see his promising life cut short by violence.
Peel police say Nath was making a delivery on Emerson Lane near Creditview and Britannia Roads around 2:10 a.m. on July 9 when he was confronted by several unknown suspects who tried to take his vehicle, leading to a physical altercation.
The group of suspects fled the scene in Nath’s vehicle, leaving him at the side of the road with life-threatening injuries. He was taken to a local trauma centre where he eventually died of his injuries five days later.
Nath came to Canada two years ago to study business management and was working for a local pizza shop, making deliveries in order to pay his way through school. He was heading into his last semester of college and had dreams of opening his own pizza shop one day.
“You come to Canada with a dream, you start your life. But these people stole a dream,” said Bobby Sidhu, a friend of the family who helped organize Saturday night’s vigil. “I can’t believe that the value of a human being would be less than a car or maybe a free pizza.”
Sidhu noted that Nath came to Canada on July 27, 2021, and ironically, his body will be sent back home to his parents in India on July 27.
Siddhartha Nath, the Consul General of India in Toronto, told the gathering how thankful he was to see all the support from the community.
“It was heartening for me to see how the community responded, came together both online and physically to support the family in this time of grief,” he said. “Of course nothing can make good the loss but it will be some solice to the grieving family and its also a signal of the spirit of the community because it is in time’s like this when the spirit and the solidarity and the sense of empathy is tested.”
Family friend Jaswynder Meelu says an incident such as this is causing everyone in the service industry to pause and take a step back.
“Of course, it is a big concern, not just delivery persons – couriers, taxi drivers, Uber drivers, pizza delivery or any fast food delivery. Nobody’s safe at this moment. Soon as you leave your home you never know if someone is waiting for you, to take your car, hit you, or do anything. It’s very unsafe at this moment.”
Carjackings across the GTA have skyrocketed in recent years. In Peel Region alone, the number of incidents was up 45 per cent in 2022.
Police have identified a suspect vehicle in the fatal carjacking, a 2012 to 2017 white Hyundai Accent sedan, with a “distinctive flashing blue light” at the top of the windshield, described as an aftermarket accessory.
Police also say a suspect wearing dark coloured clothing was seen leaving the vehicle and walking towards the area where the robbery took place. Investigators believe multiple suspects were involved and think the food order was placed to lure Nath to that specific area.
