California gurdwara official gunned down by devotee

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 25: Apparently angry at not being allowed to speak to the congregation, a Sikh man opened fire at a gurdwara in a Calif...

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 25: Apparently angry at not being allowed to speak to the congregation, a Sikh man opened fire at a gurdwara in a California town on Sunday, killing a fellow Sikh temple official and wounding another.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, police identified the assailant as 35-year-old Joga Singh Sandher of Hayward, believed to be a limousine driver in Union city. 8220;Temple members subdued him after the shooting and held him for police,8221; the newspaper said.

The temple official killed was identified as Ajmer Singh Mahli, a 45-year-old mathematics teacher at an Oakland high school. Mahli was also one of the founders of Gurdwara Sahib, the Sikh centre of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The shooting occurred after an open-forum prayer service attended by about 300 people. Police said that Sandher had asked Mahli if he could have a few minutes to recite a poem or give a short lecture. Mahli told him there wasn8217;t time at which Sandher returned with what police said was an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle and fired up to 15 shots, the newspaper reported.

Witnesses said Mahli raced behind a pillar but was fatally shot. Gurmeera Singh, 38, was shot in the knee. He was undergoing surgery at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. A third victim was treated and released at Doctors Medical Center, San Pablo, for undisclosed injuries.

Neither police nor witnesses believe the shooting was related to temple politics, such as the bloody clashes over leadership changes that have occurred in years past in Fremont. There are several Sikh temples in the Bay Area, including San Jose and Fremont. 8220;This shooting appeared to be the act of a disgruntled man,8221; police said. 8220;He felt he had been denied his religious obligation to speak.8221; Congregation members were quoted by the newspaper as having said that Sandher had proclaimed he wanted to be a true Sikh once again and had resumed observing the tenets of Sikhism.