Sikh gas station owner shot dead in US

New York

Davinder Singh was shot at the gas station on Wednesday, a report in NBC New York said. Davinder, of Iselin, was found unresponsive at the gas station and taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Jatinder Singh, son of the deceased, said he thought his father, who had moved to the US from India 25  years ago, may have been targeted because he was Sikh and wore a turban.

There was no struggle, no confrontation, Jatinder said. “I don’t know what else it could be other than a hate crime,” he said. Jatinder said his father was “the best man I ever knew” and that the family had worried about him working in Newark. He said his father had been robbed before but had always fought back. But on Monday afternoon, he didn’t even get a chance.

“My dad came out to get some fresh air and a man came up to him, pointed a gun and shot him pointblank,” he said in the report. Reports said a neighbour heard the shot and ran outside to help. “It happened so fast, I walked in my house and the gunshot I just heard. And I said no, that’s firecrackers, and his brother came out, ‘Somebody help me’, screaming and stuff,” said neighbour Mattie Griffis. Eyewitness News said Singh was well known in the area and was regarded as a hard-working individual. Davinder was fondly called David by people in the neighbourhood who remember his as a man who always had kind words and spoke pleasantly.

People in the area fondly called the victim David and say he was always pleasant. Police is investigating the crime.