Jim Eglinski, ex-Mountie MP recalls responding to shooting of Indian minister in 1986
Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski is recounting his experience as a first responder to the 1986 assassination attempt of an Indian cabinet minister and is expressing frustration as to why a man involved in the attack was invited to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s India trip.
On May 25, 1986, Eglinski was the RCMP detachment commander in Gold River, B.C., when he dashed to a shooting on a rural logging road near the town.
Upon his arrival he found a vehicle that had the windows smashed out of it and inside were three people, Indian politician Malkiat Singh Sidhu and his wife in the back seat along with the driver.
“She was terrified and screaming, and he was hurt and not making much sense. They had been attacked 15 minutes earlier when four men in another vehicle forced them off the road, smashed the windows and hit everyone with pipes and hammers,” said Eglinski. “And then one guy fired shots at the Mr. Sidhu. He faked he was dead, then the four fled.”