She was shot 13 times in an attack that killed both her parents. Now she's speaking out

WARNING: This story contains details of gun violence.

From the hospital room where she's spent months now recovering after being shot 13 times and nearly dying, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu recalls the night her parents were killed.

On Nov. 20, 2023, Sidhu, 28, says a man broke into her family's Caledon, Ont., rental home and started shooting. Her father was pronounced dead at the scene, while her mother died later in hospital.

"My father was shot in front of me. I heard my mother's last screams. After that there was complete silence. Only the noises of gunshots," Sidhu told CBC Toronto in an interview from the hospital where she's recovering.

She was shot repeatedly from her shoulder down to her legs and underwent an 18-hour surgery to remove bullets from her left arm, stomach and right leg. Her situation was critical enough that Sidhu says her brother kept her parents' deaths a secret until December, when a hospital social worker accidentally informed her.

"I didn't speak for the whole day, the whole night. I was just lying like this. I had no emotions," Sidhu said. "I was numb."

Until that moment, Sidhu — who couldn't speak because bullets hit her throat and stomach — said she'd been praying and hoping for her parents to survive.

Sidhu says she thanks God for the "miracle" of her own survival, even though her life has been turned upside down.

She has to learn how to sit, stand and walk again. She says some days feel manageable, while others are filled with pain, medication and panic attacks.

The night of the shooting

With tears in her eyes, Sidhu says she remembers being in her room on the first floor of the Mayfield Road home she rented with her younger brother, Gurdit.

She had been living there with Gurdit since August 2022. Last September, their parents came from India for a months-long visit, and Sidhu says she was enjoying the time with them. Her mother, Harbhajan Sidhu, was 57 years old, as was her father, Jagtar Sidhu.

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She told CBC Toronto that her father was a "saint" and her mother was a kind woman who fed everyone who came to visit and treated her children's "friends like [her] own sons and daughters."

Two months into her parents extended visit, Sidhu says a man burst into her home and started shooting. She says she was unconscious for some time, but as soon as she regained consciousness she called 911.

"I kept saying 'gunshots' … 'whole family was shot,'" she recounted.

She saw her father lying on the floor near her. She couldn't see her mother, whose screams she'd heard before blacking out.

"I wasn't able to do anything," Sidhu said; she felt helpless.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police, which is investigating the shooting, told CBC Toronto that OPP cannot confirm whether the shooting was targeted or a case of misidentification.

During a visit to the site of the shooting, CBC Toronto reporters saw bloodstains, as well as bullet holes through the bathroom door, where Sidhu's father was killed, and the door to Sidhu's bedroom.

The long road to recovery

Sidhu says there are two bullets in her body that can't be removed without causing further complications.

Despite her own injuries and ongoing hospital stay, she says all she can think of is the reason why a Peel police homicide detective visited her house four days before the shooting. The shooting itself is being investigated by the OPP.

Last week, both police forces told CBC Toronto they can't share any information because their cases are under investigation.

Sidhu wants to know if her parents could've been saved if the police had warned them about any suspicion of danger. "We could have left right away," she said.

As she copes from her losses, Sidhu says she is focusing on joining her brother's ongoing fight for justice for their parents.

Gurdit, who was at work on the night of the shooting, has spent the last few months emailing politicians at all levels. He wants them to prioritize this case and push the police for answers. He launched a website where people can email their local MPs to ask them to fast track the OPP investigation.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," Sidhu said.

Sidhu says she won't be able to work for at least the next two years because of her injuries. The family is fundraising to help her brother cover their expenses.

Sidhu says her brother is her only ray of hope.

"It's been very hard — up and down every day. But when I think about my brother, I get the motivation, I get the energy," she said.

Gurdit wasn't at home the night of the shooting, Sidhu says, "And that is my only will to live."