22-year-old Armaan Singh Chandi was sentenced to 9 years in prison for a drive-by shooting in Nanaimo on March 1, 2016. (Ian Holmes)

By Ian Holmes

Drive-by shooter jailed

Nanaimo drive-by shooter sentenced to 9 years in prison

May 16, 2019 | 8:45 AM

NANAIMO — A man involved in a shocking drive by-shooting in Nanaimo was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Armaan Singh Chandi, 22, learned his fate Thursday from BC Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird following the March 1 2016 incident on Wakesiah Ave. near Jingle Pot Rd.

Nine bullets were fired from an unregistered handgun by a masked man into a car parked on Wakesiah Ave. near Jingle Pot Rd. The man inside the car was an innocent bystander.

Justice Baird called Chandi’s actions appalling and extremely dangerous, referencing how the man inside the car was miraculously uninjured despite the high number of bullets fired into the car from close-range.

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“None of them struck Mr. Al Harbi, and you can count yourself very lucky on that score, Mr. Chandi. Because if you had managed to kill him…you’d be going to jail for the rest of your life.”

Al Harbi previously testified his first thought was the gunfire hitting his car was some kind of prank.

Justice Baird in trademark fashion spoke forcefully and on many occasions directly to Chandi while reading out his 45-minute ruling.

“You’re not yet a hardened criminal Mr. Chandi and I’m not going to treat you today as if you are one, but I worry about you. I wonder if you’re on that road,” Justice Baird said.

After the shooting, Chandi and co-accused Interpal Aujla were eventually arrested when their getaway vehicle with a stolen license plate was caught in Duncan due to congested traffic.

Court was told three police cruisers were rammed by the vehicle believed to be driven by Aujla.

Justice Baird said an RCMP officer received a head injury in the pursuit and still has negative cognitive effects as a result.

The Crown was not able to prove who the shooter was. However Justice Baird said both are culpable for what happened.

Aujla pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge and fleeing police and was sentenced to seven years in prison in early February.

Crown prosecutor Nick Barber called Chandi’s punishment a fit and just sentence.

“He’s going to spend a long time in a penitentiary and that’s appropriate for this kind of offence,” Barber said.

Chandi sat silently in the prisoner’s box and elected not to address court.

Roughly two years will be shaved off his sentence due to credit for time already served in custody. He was also handed a ten year weapons ban.

He was previously handed 18-months probation in March for an August 2017 stabbing in Harrison Hot Springs which left a man with non-life threatening wounds.

Chandi already served one year in jail for that offence.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes