Kent shooting: In a month, 4th hate crime incident against Indians reported in US Now, a Sikh man shot!
Los Angeles : Hate crimes in US have been on rise against Indians. In an another incident, a 39-year-old Sikh man has been shot and wounded outside his home by a partially - masked gunman in Kent city of Washington. The man also shouted "go back to your own country" before shooting the Sikh man, now identified as Deep Rai by Indian officials in New Delhi.
The suspected hate crime incident comes just days after an Indian engineer was killed in Kansas and another NRI was murdered in South Carolina yesterday. Rai was working on his vehicle outside his home in Kent when he was approached by a stranger, who then got involved in an argument ending in the shooting incident.
The shooter is still absconding but has been described as a six-foot-tall white man, wearing a mask covering the lower half of his face by the victim.
According to Kent police Chief Ken Thomas, “We are still looking for the accused; the Sikh man has sustained "non life-threatening injuries" but we are treating this as a very serious incident.”
Read Also: Hate crime against Indians in US: Now, NRI businessman Harnish Patel shot dead in South Carolina
Indian government officials have offered all possible assistance to the wounded man.
Consulate General of India in San Francisco Venkatesan Ashok is in touch with local authorities while Kent police have launched an investigation into the case reaching out to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
The incident is getting attention from the Sikh community and others as several members of the Indian community have been targeted in apparent hate crimes.
Just last month 32-year-old Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed in a hate crime incident when 51-year-old US Navy veteran Adam Purinton opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani, yelling "get out of my country".
Then in the first week of March, an NRI Harnish Patel, 43, of Lancaster in South Carolina was murdered by unidentified assailants.
Also, in New York an Indian Ekta Desai faced racial abuse when she was returning home in a metro.
No wonder there has been a fear among the Indian community following the tragic deaths and incidents.
