On June 25, a 31-year-old Sikh man was shot dead in New York in the South Ozone Park area. According to media reports, the deceased identified as Satnam Singh was shot ‘execution-style’ while sitting in a jeep near his home on Saturday afternoon. Singh was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.
The New York police informed that the incident happened near the South Ozone Park neighbourhood, next to Richmond Hill where three other Sikh men, in two separate incidents, had been attacked in the month of April.
This incident is the fourth such incident of crimes against Sikhs that took place around New York’s Richmond Hill area, in the last three months. Both Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park have large numbers of people of Indian origin.
As per media reports, there was a discrepancy between the police and eyewitness accounts of Satnam Singh’s killing. According to the New York police, the shooter came on foot and shot Singh as he sat in the jeep, but a neighbour said the assailant had fired from a car. The neighbour confirmed that her home security camera had captured the incident.
According to AM New York Metro, the police had made no arrests until Sunday morning. It said that the police were unaware of the motive behind the unprovoked attack. The media quoted police sources as saying that Satnam Singh had borrowed the jeep from a friend and authorities are determining if he was the shooter’s intended target or had been accidentally killed by someone who actually intended to target the owner of the car.
Three Sikh men attacked in New York in April
On April 13, OpIndia reported how unidentified men attacked and robbed two Sikhs in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood of Queens in New York. This incident had come a week after a 75-year-old Indian Sikh was attacked while he was on his way to Gurudwara Sahib in Queens, New York to offer his obeisance. The victim, identified as Nirmal Singh, suffered a broken nose and bruising to his face. The New York police said that the attack that took place on 95th Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard at around 6:45 am was unprovoked since no words were exchanged prior to the assault.
Following the incident, the South Asian community in New York were outraged. Many had come forward to condemn the act and express their concern for the safety of the Indian diaspora in the area.
