Fatal B.C. Starbucks attack case headed to trial

The case of a British Columbia man accused of murdering a father at a downtown Vancouver Starbucks in March 2023 is heading to trial.

Inderdeep Singh Gosal, 32, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Paul Stanley Schmidt.

While Gosal was ill and unable to attend a BC Supreme Court hearing on June 12, Crown prosecutor Daniel Mulligan told Justice Kathleen Ker that discussions with the lawyer about the admission into the case and an estimate of the length of the trial were underway.

Gosal was refused bail on March 27 and remains in custody at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre. It appeared via video.

Dozens of people witnessed Schmidt's death. A video of it went viral online.

On March 26, 2023, at approximately 5:40 p.m., two men were involved in an altercation outside of Starbucks at West Pender and Granville streets when one of the men was stabbed, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

A passerby immediately flagged down a police officer who was able to arrest a suspect at the scene.

Other police officers quickly arrived and provided first aid to the victim, but he later died in hospital.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the attack, after previously saying they did not believe the victim and suspect knew each other.

This is the sixth homicide committed in the city in 2023.