Police arrest 17 Sikhs for California gurdwara shootings
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Apr, 2023 01:31 PM
New York, April 18 (IANS) Police have arrested 17 Sikh men from rival criminal syndicates for their alleged involvement in mass shootings across Northern California, including Sikh temples in Stockton and Sacramento, which occurred between 2022 and 2023.
In a joint law enforcement operation, 41 firearms were seized from suspects responsible for numerous violent crimes and shootings, including five attempted murders, in Sutter, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo, and Merced counties.
The joint law enforcement effort culminated on Monday in a large-scale operation with agents executing search warrants at 20 locations, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Yuba City Police Chief Brian Baker, and Sutter County District Attorney Jennifer Dupre announced.
Dupre said two syndicates, mostly members of the local Sikh community, were responsible for multiple shootings where 11 people were shot, including five people at a Sikh temple in Stockton in August 2022 and two at a temple in Sacramento on March 23, 2023.
According to ABC News, Karandeep Singh, Pardeep Singh, Pavittar Singh, Husandeep Singh, Sahajpreet Singh, Harkirat Singh, Tirath Ram, Dharamvir Singh, Jobanjit Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Nitish Kaushal, Gurminder Singh Kang, Devender Singh, Karambir Gill, Rajeev Ranjan, Jobanpreet Singh and Singh Dhesi, were arrested for felony.
Police are yet to arrest Amandeep Singh, Harmandeep Singh, Gursharn Singh, Grucharan Singh and Jaskaran Singh, Dupre told ABC News, adding that the feud among groups "was fueled by intense personal connections".
"No family should ever have to worry about drive-by shootings or other forms of gun violence in the neighbourhoods where their children live and play. As a result of this joint law enforcement effort, we're taking guns off the street and putting suspected gang members and their associates behind bars," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release.
During the investigation, which began in February 2023, the law enforcement was able to prevent two additional shootings from occurring.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.
President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation's biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.
The internal documents also cite studies from Canada, Singapore and Scotland showing that the delta variant may pose a greater risk for hospitalization, intensive care treatment and death than the alpha variant, first detected in the United Kingdom.
