Gunshots fired into B.C. home of Punjabi musician AP Dhillon
The singer, who recently signed a major record deal, says he is safe after Monday's shooting
Gunshots were fired into the Vancouver Island home of popular singer and music producer AP Dhillon early Monday morning.
A video posted by media outlets in India showed a person firing 14 shots into the front of a house and a garage, while a black truck and another smaller vehicle were on fire in the driveway.
The Punjabi singer, who moved to Canada from India in 2015 and is based in Victoria, B.C., posted a brief statement on his Instagram story Monday evening saying he was OK.
"I'm safe. My people are safe. Thank you to everyone who reached out. Your support means everything," he wrote. "Peace and love to all."
In a separate Instagram post Monday, Dhillon shared a video of himself singing with a caption that said, "Keep Spreading Love."
RCMP said in a news release that they got occupants evacuated from a residence after finding two vehicles on fire and evidence that multiple shots had been fired into the home. Police said their preliminary investigation suggests it was "a targeted event" and they do not believe the general public is at risk.
Bishnoi gang claims responsibility online
Media outlets in India have reported that Rohit Godara, a member of the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for the shooting on social media.
According to The Times of India, Godara warned Dhillon to "Stay in your place, or you will meet a dog's death."
The post mentions Bollywood star Salman Khan's appearance in Dhillon's recent video for the song Old Money.
The gang has sworn revenge against Khan after he was accused of hunting a blackbuck in Rajasthan in 1998. He was convicted for poaching 20 years later.
The animals, a type of antelope native to India and Pakistan, are revered by the Bishnoi community. Two Bishnoi gang members were arrested after a shooting outside Khan's India home in April.
An RCMP spokesperson told CBC News on Tuesday that they could not provide any additional information on the gang's ties to the shooting at Dhillon's home.
"We are aware of the claims that are circulating online and though we cannot provide further details, the file remains very active," Cpl. Alex Berube wrote in an email.
Indian media reported that the Bishnoi gang also claimed responsibility for a shooting outside the Vancouver home of Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal last November, again over ties to Khan.
CBC News reported in May that the three men charged in the alleged conspiracy to murder Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar are all believed to be connected to the Bishnoi gang, according to sources involved in that investigation.
Canadian police sources have said the gang is one of a number of criminal enterprises from the Punjab and Haryana states in northern India that have spread into North America in recent years, even while its founder Lawrence Bishnoi has been imprisoned since 2014.
Shooting follows Dhillon's record deal
Dhillon signed a major record deal in August with Universal Music Canada and Republic Records, whose founder and chair Monte Lipman called him "an incredible artist" and "a shrewd visionary with a global reach that has already sparked a cultural revolution."
Dhillon marked the signing with the Old Money video, which has more than 12.5 million views on YouTube.
The 31-year-old has been touring the world and playing arenas across Canada, and last year became the first Punjabi-language artist to perform at a Canadian Juno Awards event.
"I moved here with two suitcases and one dream, and that was just to do something that can inspire people back home," Dhillon told CBC News at the time. "Immigrants that come into this country with the same hope that I had when I moved here."
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With files from Evan Dyer