Written by: Press Trust of India
2 min readWashingtonSep 7, 2013 02:40 AM IST
First published on: Sep 7, 2013 at 02:40 AM IST
Two Indian-Americans running a grocery store in the state of Indiana have been shot dead by masked men,sending shock waves among the Sikh community in the US.
The Indiana Police have arrested a 28-year-old man on charges of killing the two men identified as 55-year-old Jagtar Singh Bhatti and 20-year-old Pawan Preet Singh who were originally from Punjab.
The assailant has been identified as Kevin Moore.
Two masked men shot and killed Jagtar Singh,the owner of the store,and Pawan Preet,his employee,at Middlebury Street in the northern Indiana city of Elkhart on Thursday.
Jagtar Singh was from Preet Nagar in Jalandhar and Pawan Preet belonged to Munnan village in Hoshiarpur.
According to eyewitness,Moore,also a resident of Elkhart city,along with another accomplice shot dead the duo. The police is still looking for the other assailant.
Condemning the deadly attack during the robbery attempt,Satnam Singh Chahal,executive director of North American Punjabi Association NAPA,said due to the growing killings,the Sikh community is living under the shadow of fear and insecurity.
Chahal said Jagtar Singh was running his grocery shop for the past seven years and was living with Palwinder Singh Bhatti.
According to another store employee Bill Sinclair,he was in the stores kitchen when he heard a noise like the pop of a firecracker.
Two girls standing outside told him that two men in masks ran from the store,and when he went inside,he saw Jagtar Singh and Pawan Preet had been shot.
NAPA in a statement urged the US government to leave no stone unturned to take all necessary measures to protect the lives and property of NRIs.
Share
