Two arrests have been made in connection with the shooting death of model and B.C. university student Maple Batalia.
Gurjinder "Gary" Dhaliwal, 20, of Burnaby is charged with first-degree murder, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced on Saturday. Dhaliwal was Batalia's former boyfriend, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Also charged is Gursimar Bedi, 22, of Surrey with manslaughter and use of a firearm.
Surrey RCMP Supt. Bill Fordy described Batalia as a "beautiful young woman with a promising life in front of her" at a news conference on Saturday. Members of Batalia's family were also in attendance.
Roseleen Batalia, Maple's sister, spoke on her family's behalf and described the timing of the arrests as "worth the wait."
"We can finally start to grieve," she told reporters.
Batalia, 19, was gunned down in an SFU Surrey campus parking lot on Sept. 28, 2011 around 1 a.m.
The following day, two unrelated assault charges were approved against Dhaliwal after he allegedly assaulted two people at a Surrey Tim Hortons store, reported CTV News.
Shortly after Batalia's murder, RCMP released surveillance photos of a late-model white Dodge Charger they believed to be "a suspect vehicle."
In September, almost 200 people gathered in a Surrey park to hold a vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of Batlia's murder.
Dhaliwal and Bedi are set to appear in provincial court on Monday.
