4 Sikhs killed in FedEx facility mass shooting in US
April 17, 2021 09:54
At least eight people, including four Sikhs, were killed and five others were left injured in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in the US state of Indiana, according to community leaders.
The gunman, identified as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole of Indiana, allegedly died by suicide after the shooting on late Thursday night at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis, taking the toll to nine.
About 90 per cent of the workers at this delivery service facility are said to be Indian-Americans, mostly from the Sikh community.
"This is very heart breaking. The Sikh community is devastated by this tragic incident," community leader Gurinder Singh Khalsa told PTI over the phone after meeting family members of the employees of the FedEx facility.
Late Friday night, the Marion County Coroner's Office and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) released the names of the victims: Amarjeet Johal (66), Jasvinder Kaur (64), Amarjit Skhon (48) and Jaswinder Singh (68). The first three deceased are women.
The IMPD said the coroner's office will determine the causes of death after autopsies are completed. Another Sikh, Harpreet Singh Gill, 45 was hit by a bullet near the eye and is now in the hospital.
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris expressed condolences over the tragic killings.
"Vice President Harris and I have been briefed by our homeland security team on the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, where a lone gunman murdered eight people and wounded several more in the dark of night," Biden said in a statement.
Visiting Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, at the start of his bilateral meeting at the White House expressed his condolences to the victims and his sympathies to the families.
"Innocent citizens must not be exposed to any such violence. Freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are the universal values that link and are prevalent in the Indo-Pacific," he said.
Biden issued a proclamation in honour of the deceased. He ordered that the national flag be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all federal buildings.
Khalsa said community members are in touch with officials. "Post 9/11, the Sikh community has suffered a lot. It is high time that strong measures be taken to bring an end to such mass shootings. Enough is enough," he said. Indiana has about 10,000 members of the Sikh community.
Community leaders, like Khalsa, are engaged in philanthropic and charitable activities.
We have families in our country that are grieving the loss of their family members because of gun violence. There is no question that this violence must end. And we are thinking of the families that lost their loved ones, Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters.
The shooter allegedly turned his weapon on himself before law enforcement arrived at the scene. FedEx has confirmed that he was a former employee at the Indianapolis facility. No further information was released. -- PTI
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