Wed Sept 1, 2010 Leader

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Eagles land a win and two losses page 19

Mini Mounties get a glimpse of policing page 22

Wednesday September 1, 2010 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com

Beachside nuptials take place where run finished 25 years ago

Fonyo’s wedding goes off without a hitch by Vivian Moreau STEVE FONYO stumbled on the

BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER

Multiple police vehicles converge near a suspect’s residence following a shooting at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple early Saturday afternoon. Radio host Maninder Singh Gill turned himself in to police on Monday morning.

Radio station manager charged in shooting Feud between former friends preceded act of violence by Dan Ferguson PEOPLE WHO know Maninder Singh Gill and Harjit Singh Atwal say the two men used to be friends. The relationship between Gill, the managing director of Surreybased Radio India and Atwal, a construction company owner, goes back more than 20 years. But the two Surrey residents recently had a bitter falling-out that ended up in court. And now Atwal is recovering from a bullet wound to his leg and Gill has been charged with shooting his former acquaintance. It happened Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple on Scott Road.

A wedding involving hundreds life-threatening injury to his of guests was underway when upper thigh, but was expected to shots were fired. make a full recovery. On Monday, Gill turned himWitnesses said two men got self in to police. into an argument He faces charges of around 12:40 p.m. Shots were fired and police unauthorized possession were called. of a firearm, pointing a firearm, two counts of They arrived to find discharging a firearm one man had been with intent and one wounded in the leg, and the other had fled the count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous scene. purpose. The investigation Atwal was one of quickly led to a house Maninder Gill 14 blocks south of the several people suing shooting scene. Gill and a number of other people at Radio India for Police swarmed the area and surrounded the house, but no defamation and libel over a series arrest was made. of comments that aired on the Atwal required surgery for station earlier this year. what police described as a nonA statement of claim was filed

Aug. 3 in the B.C. Supreme Court registry in New Westminster by Harjit Atwal, Jaspal Atwal and Harkirat Kular over statements made during news broadcasts that aired on Radio India in May. The lawsuit named Radio India, Gill and 11 Air India staffers. Included with the court filing were English translations of the remarks made during three May news broadcasts that appear to show the language used was at the very least provocative, with words like “rascal,” “disgracefully,” and “scandal” attached to sweeping claims of misconduct with promises of more revelations to come. The three plaintiffs said the allegations made on air were not See VIOLENCE / Page 4

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steps leading up from the beach where he’d just married Lisa Greenwood. But his bride caught his arm before he fell. “We’ve been supporting each other a lot in the past few months,” Greenwood said after, as the newly married couple waited for a horse and carriage to arrive to take them to a reception after their Saturday afternoon wedding at Fonyo Beach in Victoria. Fonyo, a Surrey resident, wearing a rented black tux, said the wedding is the start of a new life for the couple. Both he and Greenwood had been in jail for short periods this spring and summer Steve Fonyo on fraud and theft charges. “Our past is behind us. There’s a few little things we’ve got to work out, but it will be worked out. Things always do work out. Even though we had a few obstacles, I knew the marriage was going to happen,” Fonyo said. Greenwood said Fonyo had repeated that refrain during the past few trying months. “I knew the strength was there,” she said of how they handled the experience. “It was just a matter of whether we had enough to hold it together through that. But now it (the wedding) has happened and

“Our past is behind us.”

See BRIDE / Page 3


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