Charnjit “Sonny” Bassi had a troubled past but had recently turned his focus to religion and family, longtime friends have told the Star.

Bassi, 45, had no pending charges and no legal reason to be at the A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse in Brampton last Friday, when he was killed during a confrontation with Peel Regional Police.

Const. Mike Klarenbeek, a 30-year veteran of the force, was shot in the abdomen and is recovering at Sunnybrook hospital.

Hardeep Purewal, who has known Bassi since high school, said his friend was “a changed man. . . . Whatever happened in the past, he left everything behind.

“He was following his religion, mostly, like going to temple. That’s a big change.”

Described as a devout Sikh, Bassi had found a renewed interest in prayer in the last couple of years and was even halfway finished writing a religious book when he died.

Peel police said Monday they are investigating what led up to Bassi arriving at the courthouse on Friday and what his “intentions” were there.

The Special Investigations Unit says he first opened fired on a police officer in charge of security. The SIU officially identified Bassi as the shooter on Monday as they continue to probe the incident.

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According to court records, Bassi was not scheduled to appear at the Brampton location on Friday nor did he have any outstanding charges.

But his criminal record stretches back to at least 2000 when he was charged with aggravated assault after a fight broke out between several men at a Peel-area restaurant and a sword was produced.

Bassi’s charges were dismissed at a preliminary hearing. He also faced charges related to credit card fraud in the mid-2000s.

Court staff was not immediately able to provide the details of his alleged offences.

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“Everyone’s shocked. We don’t even know he had a gun, seriously,” said Jaswinder Khosa, who was friends with Bassi for over 25 years and saw him regularly at the Malton temple.

“We have no clue what happened. I don’t want to blame anybody. This is a shock for us.”

Bassi emigrated from India around 1986, friends say, initially living with close family in Brampton. He moved out when he married for the first time in the early ’90s. That was an arranged marriage and ended quickly, friends say.

His second marriage ended in a 2012 divorce but he and his ex-wife remained friendly, even mowing her lawn occasionally. She lived down the street on Flower Trail in Brampton with their young daughter.

Bassi then moved in with his elderly mother, helping take her to cancer treatments and bringing her to temple.

Despite his history, Bassi wasn’t depressed, his friends say. He was an attentive father and was excited about an upcoming wedding in the family.

“He wasn’t suicidal. He knows if you go to court with a gun or something what the outcomes are,” said friend Kelly Gill.

His friends are disappointed more of an effort wasn’t made to revive Bassi after the shooting.

“They should have tried to save him,” Gill said. “Then we’d have some answers now.”

A bystander video taken immediately after the shooting shows police attempting to handcuff Bassi as he lies face down on the floor just inside the front entrance of the courthouse.

Witnesses told the Star they saw a well-dressed man try to enter the building through the lawyers’ entrance — bypassing security and a metal detector — when he was asked by one officer to move to the public line. Shortly after, six gunshots were heard.

At a family home, car after car arrived Monday carrying visitors to pay respects to Bassi’s elderly mother.

At the courthouse, which reopened Monday, emergency task force officers as well as several extra uniformed security officers roamed the first floor near the front entrance as Friday’s events remained the top conversation among lawyers and staff.

A mug shot released by police Monday is more than a decade old, his friends told the Star.

Now they are planning his funeral, set for Thursday.

The SIU has assigned 15 investigators and three forensic investigators to the case. There are two subject officers and two witness officers.

The civilian agency is called in to investigate when police are involved in incidents with serious injury or death.

Klarenbeek was released from intensive care over the weekend and his family said he was alert and talking. He has worked at the courthouse for five years.

It’s not yet clear whether Klarenbeek or another officer fatally shot Bassi.