Vancouver ramming attack all too familiar for Calgary mother

The massacre that unfolded on the streets of Vancouver over the weekend brings back heartache for family and friends of a young woman killed in Calgary.

Nearly two decades ago, Raminder Dhadda was struck and killed by a van that drove into a crowd of New Year’s revelers outside a Kensington pub in 2006

The man behind the wheel drove intentionally the wrong way down a street and without warning, Dhadda’s life was taken. She was 24-years old.

Every day since her 2006 death, her mother has had to live with the pain of having her middle child ripped from her life.

Kuldeep Dhadda says hearing about families now facing similar devastation after a vehicle slammed into a crowd of people celebrating at an outdoor Filipino festival in Vancouver brings back painful memories. She says it pains her to know the lifetime of heartache the loved ones of those lost to that violent attack will now endure.

“When I heard about it, I just said, ‘Oh my god,’ like I could just imagine the bodies flying. At Rami’s trial, we heard that they were thrown up 20 feet into the air and 50 feet away, and all of those things came back to my mind and I said, ‘Oh, my god, that is exactly what happened to these people,” she told 660 NewsRadio.

“I just pray for those people to go through this. It’s going be very hard, they will never forget this; the families, they’ll suffer now for the rest of their lives, they’ll be suffering like me.”

Tibebe Sirak was a co-worker of Dhadda’s for just a few months at the time of her death.

She told 660 NewsRadio Dhadda invited her out a few times, but with a young child at home, Sirak couldn’t make it. She planned to make it to her friend’s upcoming birthday.

“January — that’s her birthday, I’m going no matter what, no matter what,” Sirak said of her plans at the time.

Unfortunately, that celebration never happened.

Her mom says Raminder is often the topic of talk between family and friends, but intertwined with all that love is the memory of how her life was stolen without a hint that it was about to happen.

“They had no idea that was coming to them,” Kuldeep said.

Samrat Dhuna, 19, was convicted of manslaughter and eventually deported to India after being granted parole.