This photo of Kalwinder Thind was proudly displayed at Richmond Chrysler when he worked there as a salesman. He was killed on January 27 when he tried to break up a fight at a club in Vancouver’s entertainment district.
A few days ago, Kal Thind dropped by Richmond Chrysler to say hello to his former colleagues. He told them about his new job as a promoter at the Cabana nightclub in Granville Street’s entertainment district.
“It was a great gig for him and he was enjoying it,” says Danny Mouro, the dealership’s sales manager and Thind’s former boss.
The 23-year-old was working at Cabana on January 27 when a fight broke out inside the club around 2:30 a.m.. The argument spilled onto the street and Vancouver police say Thind stepped in to stop it. He was fatally injured and died in hospital.
Several people have been arrested and homicide investigators are currently trying to piece the evidence together.
On a blog he wrote under the name Kris Thind when he was a business student at Kwantlen University, Thind said he was born in Vancouver and moved to Richmond when he was 11. At 18, he said he wasn’t sure of his future career path. He was considering being a police officer, realtor or builder.
Mouro says that on Monday, Thind was leaving for India to attend a wedding. He was going to stay for a month and try to make up his mind about what to do next. One option would be to join his father’s home-building company in Richmond.
Thind worked at a salesman at the Richmond dealership for more than a year, where they came to think of him as family. With his happy-go-lucky, youthful personality, Thind was known for his good humour and fun-loving personality.
“He was always smiling, laughing and making everyone feel comfortable,” Mouro says. “When he laughed you could hear it across the showroom.”
Mouro says that Thind had got a job one night a week as a doorman at Bar None on Granville Street. Although he had lots of energy, it was tough fitting the night job in with working six days a week at the dealership. Just before Christmas, Thind decided to leave when he got the Cabana job two nights a week, knowing he would also be going to India for a month.
Thind told Mouro that he was really happy about his new role as a promoter. Part of his job was to invite groups of people to come to the club and book a table.
Thind also liked working out at the gym. “He worked out but he wasn’t some rough and tough mean guy,” Mouro says.
“He’s not the guy who would start a fight but he’s the one who would try to break it up.”
Mouro says that Thind had an older sister and that he lived with his parents in Richmond.
The police are releasing few other details about Thind’s death.
There have been several stabbings in the entertainment district in the past year.
Last October, a man was stabbed in a fight outside a bar at Granville and Davie streets.
A month earlier, two men were sent to hospital after being stabbed outside a nightclub at Granville and Robson and, in June, a man in a crowd on the 800-block was stabbed and taken to hospital.
In 2016, a 28-year-old woman, Lauren McLellan, was killed outside Caprice Nightclub after an altercation with two other women inside the bar.
Investigators are appealing to any witnesses and anyone who has information about this incident to call detectives at (604) 717-2500 or Crime stoppers at 1-800-222-8478.
