A 31-year-old Sikh man was fatally shot in New York in the South Ozone Park area on June 25. As per the NYPD, the incident happened on Saturday afternoon when Satnam Singh was sitting in a black Jeep Wrangler Sahara. He was approached by the attacker who suddenly started shooting.
Singh was immediately transported to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead by the doctors. A few media reports are calling the attack as an 'execution-style' murder, as the deceased was conscious of his surroundings but had no way to escape.
There was a major difference noted between the eyewitness accounts and statements of police officers in describing how the entire situation unfolded.
According to the NYPD, the perpetrator had walked up to Singh as he sat in the jeep and shot him, but a resident of the South Ozone Park argued that the shots were fired from a silver-coloured sedan with a black trunk, as her home surveillance camera had captured the attack, Indian Express reported.
"(Singh) was walking up 129th St. going to the car and the other car with the perp in it came up," said neighbour Joan Cappellani.
"[It] made a U-turn, came back and then 'Pow! Pow! Pow!' and then went down 129th St," she added.
As they could not figure out the motive behind the 'unprovoked attack,' the NYPD has not arrested anyone yet. The officers believe that Singh was an unintended target because he had borrowed the vehicle from his friend so it is possible that the shooter's main aim was the actual owner of the car, AM New York Metro reported.
This incident marks the fourth hate crime reported against Indian nationals in New York's Richmond Hill area in the past three months. In two separate attacks, 3 other Sikh men were targeted in the month of April alone.
