Update to incident near Surrey Mosque

Surrey, B.C.

2022-04-30 21:02 PDT

File # 2022-60171

The Surrey RCMP has identified and interviewed all parties involved in an incident outside a Surrey Mosque that was reported to police on April 27 (See previous news release: 2022-04-28). All individuals, including the six victims/witnesses and two suspects are cooperating with police.

The investigation found that this was not a racially-motivated hate crime. All occupants of the suspect vehicle were teenagers who are part of the Muslim community.

Work will continue in order to resolve this matter through existing mechanisms either involving the BC Prosecution Service or through extra-judicial measures, using a restorative justice approach which would allow all parties to come together and express the impacts that this incident had on them and the greater community.

Statement from Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, Officer-in-Charge, Surrey RCMP

The RCMP recognizes that any incidents such as this one that are initially believed to be a hate crime are traumatizing to our community. However, once it was discovered that the nature of the incident was not hate motivated, it was important for us to update the public.

I have spoken to Mr. Gondal, President of the British Columbia Muslim Association, and had a positive discussion about the outcome of this event as well as our shared objective of ensuring safety of all communities, including our Muslim residents.

This event demonstrates the importance of reporting all such incidents to police so they can be fully investigated. The Surrey RCMP takes allegations of hate/bias related crimes very seriously and encourages reporting of such matters. That is precisely what we are here to do – assess and investigate.  

Released by

Cpl. Vanessa Munn

Media Relations Officer
Surrey RCMP
14355 57 Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3X 1A9
Office: 604-599-7776

Email: surrey_media_relations@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Website: surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Follow Us:

Date modified: