Posted on 09/16/2001 3:48:19 PM PDT by Jean S
MESA, Ariz. -- An Indian-immigrant gas station owner was shot to death and a Lebanese-American clerk was targeted, but not injured, by gunfire at another Mesa gas station, police said Sunday.
Shots were also fired at a home where a family of Afghani descent live.
Frank Roque, 42, was charged with attempted murder in two of the three attacks Saturday, and police were investigating the possibility that the crimes were linked to Tuesday's terror attacks in New York and Washington.
Around the country, several apparent backlash attacks and threats have been reported against people of Middle Eastern descent.
The East Valley Tribune reported that Roque shouted, "I stand for America all the way," as he was handcuffed Saturday night.
Roque was accused only in the shootings at the second gas station and at the home, said police Sgt. Mike Goulet. He hadn't been charged in the first shooting, which killed Balbir Singh Sodhi, an immigrant from India, but police continued to question Roque on Sunday and had no other suspects, Goulet said.
Police notified FBI officials who investigate hate crimes but hadn't determined whether the incident was based on the victims' race, Goulet said.
Sodhi, 49, was a Sikh. His relatives pointed to the fact that the gas station wasn't robbed as evidence that Sodhi was targeted because of how he looked. Male Sikhs often have long facial hair and wear turbans.
"He wouldn't have any enemies," said his cousin, Harjit Singh Sodhi.
The clerk at the second gas station was a U.S. citizen of Lebanese descent, according to his employers, Ali Saad and Saad Saad. The brothers, who didn't give the clerk's name, said they had no doubt that he was targeted because of his race.
"In Mesa, Arizona, today, it's time for calm and rational thought," Mayor Keno Hawker said Sunday. "These people are innocent. Because they wear a turban on their head is no indication they are terrorists."
Since Tuesday's attacks, authorities across the country have reported a number of attacks and threats against people of Middle Eastern descent.
Among them: an attack on a Moroccan gas station attendant in Palos Heights, Ill.; an attempt to run over a Pakistani woman in a parking lot in Huntington, N.Y.; and the arrest of an armed man who allegedly set fire to a Seattle mosque.
Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press
Any decent American.
If the victim had been a Muslim, it would be just as bad, and the SOB should still be executed for presuming to claim that he did such a thing in the name of America.
The shooter, is a murderer, but if the shop owner had incited him, he asked for it. Both are then guilty. And I'm not saying the shop owner did, fact is he probably didn't.
It's becomes harder to come to this forum without using expletives every day.
Have you ever heard of pencil and paper or are you one of those who haven't progressed to that level on the food chain. Jot down the guy's license plate number and make a phone call to the FBI. Duh...
May be not in a free USA.
America is getting more friends every day around the world:
After terror, Sikhs feel the hate
Hindustan Times - India; Sep 16, 2001
BY S. RAJAGOPALAN
A Sikh and a Pakistani were gunned down in Arizona amid reports of an upsurge in “hate crime” following last Tuesday's attacks.
Balbir Singh Sodhi, owner of a gas station at Mesa, died after three shots were fired at him from point blank range. The killing on Saturday afternoon has led to panic among Sikhs, who have become the targets of Black Tuesday's backlash because their beards and turbans make them “look like followers of Osama bin Laden”.
Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh has taken up the matter with the White House and sought protection for Sikhs. He has reportedly been promised follow-up measures.
The Mesa police department, however, is still to determine the motive behind Sodhi's killing. The person who gunned down Sodhi went on a shooting spree at two other places without inflicting any further harm.
Police spokesman Mike Goulet said one person, Frank Roque, has been arrested in connection with the other two shootings. But he has not been charged with Sodhi's killing. Sodhi's relatives spoke of the threats he and the Sikh community had received over the week. His brother, Lakhwinder Singh Sodhi, said the police had been told about the threats.
The gunman, it is said, came in a pickup truck and shot Sodhi at his gas station from close range. After about 20 minutes, he turned up at another gas station and fired through a window at a Lebanese clerk, who escaped unhurt. The gunman then went into a house and fired without injuring anyone.
“My brother did not have enemies. Nor is this a case of attempted robbery,” said Lakhwinder Singh. He and his slain brother, along with some other Sikhs, had been planning a media conference today to tell local Americans that they had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. “Before that could happen, my brother has been killed so brutally,” he said.
Rajwant Singh, president of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, said Sodhi had received death threats for no fault of his. He blamed the US media for “failing to educate the public that the Sikhs ... in anyway affiliated with Osama”.
Punjab village mourns death, p12
World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright
Targeting of Sikhs and other Americans in the wake of the New York tragedy
I warned you so many times. You laughed.
It's coming to America. Faster then you think.
No rush to judgement desertfox, just a news article. If you think anything that article is about "silencing informants", you might seek professional counseling.
desertfox, I pray to my God, the victim's God, and all other Gods that I NOT be in the same gene pool as you.
I hope I'm not in the same country as you.
I'm embarassed that I'm on the same web site as you.
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