Officials recover a body on Friday at the site of a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. Jeff Dean / Getty Images hide subtitles
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Jeff Dean / Getty Images
Officials recover a body on Friday at the site of a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis.
Jeff Dean / Getty Images
Members of the Sikh community in Indianapolis mourn the loss of four of their members who were killed in a shooting attack on Thursday night in a FedEx warehouse that left eight dead.
“These types of violent attacks are a threat to all of us,” said community member Maninder Singh Walia in an explanation published by the Sikh coalition. “Our community has a long way to go – physically, spiritually, and spiritually – to recover from this tragedy.”
According to the coalition, the local Sikh community has grown significantly over the past two decades. An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Sikh Americans live in Indiana.
The police identified the victims of The shoot as Matthew R. Alexander, 32, Samaria Backwell, 19, Amarjeet Johal, 66, Jaswinder Kaur, 64, Jaswinder Singh, 68, Amarjit Sekhon, 48, Karlie Smith, 19 and John Weisert, 74.
The shooter was identified as a 19-year-old Brandon Hole. He was an employee in the facility and last worked there in 2020, according to police officers.
The shock of the massacre is only compounded by the fact that employees are not allowed to have cell phones while at work. As a result, many family members could not call.
Amarjeet Johal’s granddaughter Komal Chohan, said in stating that several members of her family work at the facility “and are traumatized. My nani, family, and our families shouldn’t feel unsafe at work, in their place of worship, or anywhere. Enough is enough – our fellowship was.” through enough trauma. ”
Johal had planned to work a double shift and then take Friday off, Chohan said in one Tweet. She said her grandmother then decided to get her check and leave. Johal was later spotted with her check in hand, Chohan said.
Representatives of eight Gurdwaras from the Indianapolis area – Sikh churches – called to action.
“We don’t yet know the shooter’s motive and may never know exactly what made him do what he did,” they said in a statement. “We do know, however, that the FedEx facility he is targeting is known to have a large Sikh workforce. Given all of the past experiences our community has had – the pattern of violence, bigotry, and backlash we’ve faced – it is impossible to feel the same pain and the same goal in this moment. “
Amarjit Sekhon was a mother of two and started working at the facility in November. Her brother-in-law, Kuldip Sekhon, said she was a “hard worker,” the Indianapolis star reported.
“She liked to work. She liked to eat. She liked money,” he said. “If you wanted to go shopping with her, she would go with you.”
President Biden called the ongoing gun massacres across the country a “national embarrassment” on Friday.
“Who in God’s name needs a gun that can last 100 rounds? Or 40 rounds? Or 20 rounds?” Said Biden at a press conference. “It’s just wrong and I won’t give up until it’s done.”
in the an explanationHe called gun violence an epidemic in America that should not be accepted.
