4 Sikhs dead in US shootout; rights groups demand probe

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 17

Four Sikhs, including three women, were among eight people killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis in Indiana. This was the worst attack on Indian-origin people in the US since the Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting in Wisconsin on August 5, 2012.

The victims were identified as Amarjeet Johal (66), Jaswinder Kaur (64), Amarjit Sekhon (48) and Jaswinder Singh (68). Five Indian-Americans were injured, one of them seriously with a bullet in the eye.

US flag at half-mast on federal buildings

• This is the worst attack on Sikh community members in the US since Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting of 2012
• While the FBI claimed the accused possessed no ‘racially motivated ideology’, rights groups think otherwise
• About 90 per cent of the workers at FedEx delivery service facility said to be mostly from the Sikh community

The gunman — 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole — was a former employee, who allegedly died by suicide after the shooting on Thursday night. He was last employed by FedEx in 2020.

About 90 per cent of the workers at this delivery service facility are said to be Indian-Americans, mostly from the Sikh community.

Demanding a probe, New York-based Sikh Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group, said it could be an act of racial or ethnic hatred. Community leader Gurinder Singh Khalsa said: “This should be a wake-up call for the country, in particular the Sikhs and Asians, against whom there has been a sudden spurt in hate crimes.” He said community leaders are meeting on Saturday to demand a probe into the incident.

Another leader Harinder Singh Khalsa said the Sikhs were especially vulnerable because of their appearance.

Hate crime: Indian held in Oz

new delhi: The police in Australia have arrested an Indian with an expired visa for one among a series of violent incidents within the Indian community over the farm laws. The man has been remanded to custody after being denied bail in an alleged incident of hate crime at Harris Park in Sydney. “Sikhs were targeted because of tensions over farm laws in India,’’ said a news report. — TNS

US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris expressed grief over the killings as did Japanese President Yoshihide Suga, who is in Washington for an in-person bilateral. Biden issued a proclamation in honour of the deceased.

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