5 June 2026

Canadian Sikh Inderdeep Singh Gosal, who admitted knifing a Vancouver Starbucks patron to death in broad daylight, told the judge hearing his case that he found the murder weapon in an alley and took it as a “sign from God” to protect himself.

Gosal has pleaded not guilty to the murder (in the second-degree) of Paul Schmidt, 37, and is standing trial by judge alone before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker.

Victim stabbed after request to stop vaping

At about 5:30 pm Sunday 26 March 2023, Schmidt and his three year old daughter Erica were waiting outside the coffee shop while his fiancée, Ashley Umali, went inside to get drinks.

Schmidt saw the attacker vaping and asked him not to vape in front of his child.

An enraged Gosal then stabbed Schmidt multiple times.

The court heard that Schmidt was stabbed six times with wounds to the neck, chest, and upper abdomen. Prosecutors allege that the accused attempted to stab Schmidt at least nine times, which Gosal denied.

According to an agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, after the stabbing, the suspect looked back at Schmidt’s body, called him a derogatory term and then walked back into Starbucks.

CCTV footage played to the court in February 2026 (see video above) showed the verbal interaction between the two men, part of the stabbing and and Gosal leaving as Schmidt lay in a pool of blood.

The mystery of the murder weapon

Gosal initially told police that he had purchased the murder weapon knife at a store. He then gave a second version about finding it in an alley.

But the court was told that a knife matching the description and branding of the murder weapon had been seized from Gosal in 2017.

A litany of lies

Gosal admitted in court that he had lied to police, doctors, and his sister after his arrest. He admitted exaggerating how much he had been drinking and falsely claimed he had never been in a fight before.

In his closing address on 5 May 2026, Prosecutor Daniel Pruim submitted that Gosal “is and has been prepared to lie when he perceives there is a benefit to him.” He presented psychiatrists with self-serving depictions of his psychological state and was prepared to “use his mental health to achieve goals.”

Lack of mental capacity raised

Gosal’s lawyer Gloria Ng told Judge Ker that her client should be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, because he was unable to understand the consequences of his actions due to his “unmedicated psychotic state” when he stabbed Paul Schmidt to death on the café patio.

But Pruim disagreed. He argued that the evidence showed Gosal was taking his medication as he was filling his prescriptions at appropriate intervals. He also took issue with Ng’s use of the word “psychosis,” calling it “an intermittent symptom” that both psychiatrists who assessed Gosal agreed he did not have.

Two forensic psychiatrists – Dr Johann Brink and Dr Rakesh Lamba gave evidence about the accused’s mental state.

Judge Ker has reserved her decision.