INDIANAPOLIS – Members of the close-knit Sikh community of Indianapolis joined city officials on Saturday in demanding gun reforms while mourning the deaths of four Sikhs who were among the eight people killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse.
Aasees Kaur, who represented the Sikh coalition, attended a vigil on Saturday night at a park in Indianapolis, along with the city mayor and other elected officials to demand action to prevent such attacks from happening again. happen.
“We need to support each other, not only in grief, but also in calling on our policy makers and elected officials to make meaningful changes,” Kaur said. “The time to act is not later, but now. We are far too many tragedies, too late, to do so.”
The attack was a further blow to the Asian American community a month after authorities said six people of Asian descent were killed by a gunman in the Atlanta area amid ongoing attacks on Asian Americans during the coronavirus -pandemic.
“IT RECEIVES US ALL”
About 90% of the workers in the FedEx warehouse near Indianapolis International Airport are members of the local Sikh community, police said Friday.
Kiran Deol, who attended the vigil in support of family members affected by the shooting, said loopholes in the law that make it easier for individuals to buy guns “should be closed now,” emphasizing that anyone who has a trying to buy firearms should be required to have their background checked.
KP Singh speaks to members of the Sikh Coalition as they gather at the Sikh Satsang of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (Associated Press)
“The gun violence is unacceptable. Look what happened … it needs to be stopped,” Deol said. “We need more reform. We need gun laws to be tougher, stronger, so that responsible people have the guns. That’s what we want to raise awareness for.”
Satjeet Kaur, executive director of the Sikh coalition, said the entire community was traumatized by the “senseless” violence.
“Although we do not yet know the motive of the shooter, he showed a facility known to the Sikh employees to be heavily populated,” Kaur said.
According to the coalition, there are between 8,000 and 10,000 Sikh Americans in Indiana. Members of the religion, which began in India in the 15th century, began to settle in Indiana more than 50 years ago.
One of the victims of the shooting Thursday night was Amarjit Sekhon, a 48-year-old Sikh mother of two boys who was the breadwinner of her family.
Kuldip Sekhon said his sister-in-law started working at the FedEx plant in November and was a dedicated worker whose husband was disabled.
“She was a workaholic, she always worked,” he said. “She would never sit still … the other day she had the (COVID-19) shot and she was really sick, but she still went to work.”
In addition to Sekhon, the Marion County coroner’s office identified the deceased as: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weiseret, 74.
Kuldip Sekhon said his family lost another family member in the shooting – Kaur, who was his son’s mother-in-law. He said both Kaur and Amarjit Sekhon both started working at the FedEx plant last year.
“We were planning to have a birthday party tonight, but now we’re here. It … it’s hard for us,” Sukhpreet Rai, who is also related to Kaur and Sehkon, said on Saturday. “They were both very charming.”
Komal Chohan, who said Amarjeet Johal is her grandmother, said in a statement by the Sikh coalition that her family members, including several who work in the FedEx warehouse, were “traumatized” by the killings.
“My nani, my family and our families should not feel unsafe at work, in their place of worship or anywhere. Enough is enough – our community has been through enough trauma,” she said in the statement.
According to the coalition, about 500,000 Sikhs live in the US. Many practicing Sikhs are visually distinguished by their religious articles, which include the uncut hair and turban.
The shooting is the deadliest incident of violence in the Sikh community in the US since 2012, when a white supremacist erupted in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, killing ten people and killing seven.
In Indianapolis, police said Brandon Scott Hole, 19, a former FedEx plant worker, killed eight people there before killing himself. Authorities did not release a motive.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Hole has two assault rifles that he legally purchased in July and September 2020. Police said Hole used both guns during the assault.
Hole’s family said in a statement on Saturday that they were “so sorry for the pain and hurt” that his actions caused.
Paul Keenan, special agent charged with the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis, said Friday agents questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say her son would commit ‘suicide by a police officer’. He said agents found no evidence of a crime and that they did not view Hole as a race-driven ideology.
Samaria Blackwell, of Indianapolis, was a soccer and basketball player who graduated from Indy Genesis last year, a Christian competitive sports organization for homeschooling students. Her parents said in a statement on Saturday that she is an outgoing ‘people’ who will be “terribly” missed by them and her dog, Jasper.
As an intelligent, straightforward student, Samaria could have done whatever she decided, and because she loved helping people, she dreamed of becoming a police officer. “Although the dream has been cut short, we believe at the moment they are rejoicing in heaven with her Savior,” they said.
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Matthew Alexander, of Avon, just west of Indianapolis, was a former student at Butler University and a 2007 graduate of Avon High School. Family members and some of his former teammates in Avon’s baseball team attended a game in memory on Saturday. They wore his former uniform, no. 16, carried to the field, where they embraced and wept.
Albert Ashcraft, a former FedEx driver, said Alexander sends drivers to delivery points, prepares their paperwork and is much loved because he was on the lookout for the drivers, even to make sure they get treats.
“People brought in donuts and he always put donuts back for his drivers,” he told The Indianapolis Star.
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Pat Eaton-Robb in Connecticut contributed to this report. Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on national issues.