Sikh Man Shot by Xenophobic Masked Gunman in His Own Driveway

Sikh man shot in Probable hate crime

A hate crime has taken place in in Kent, Washington. Just weeks after Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was killed in Kansas by a man who told him to “get out of my country”, a 39-year-old Sikh was shot in his own driveway as he was working on his car. The masked shooter walked up holding a gun, an altercation took place and the armed man (described as a 6-foot-tall white man) yelled “go back to your own country” before pulling the trigger. The Seattle Times reports as following:

“The victim, whose name hasn’t been released, was shot in the arm at about 8 p.m. Friday and suffered injuries that are not life-threatening, the newspaper reported. The man who shot him is still on the loose. Kent Police have reached out to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for help.”

According to Kent police, the perpetrator is still at large, but authorities are treating the case very seriously. Jasmit Singh, leader of the Sikh community in Renton, said Sikh men have been facing a rise in verbal abuse and discrimination, in a climate of hatred that targets everyone equally:

“a kind of prejudice, a kind of xenophobia that is nothing that we’ve seen in the recent past.”

Since the terror attacks of 9/11 the Sikh community has been targeted due to their appearance (despite the fact that they are not neither Arabs nor Muslim); however, Singh believes back then the government worked to try to eradicate the feelings of xenophobia and discrimination. Something that the new government is not doing. Rajdeep Singh, the Sikh Coalition Interim Program Manager said in a statement:

“While we appreciate the efforts of state and local officials to respond to attacks like this, we need our national leaders to make hate crime prevention a top priority. Tone matters in our political discourse, because this a matter of life or death for millions of Americans who are worried about losing loved ones to hate.”

Related: Dear Donald Trump, This Is Not a Muslim: A Quick Guide to Sikhs

In fact, the father of Madasani, the injured Indian man at the Kansas shooting, said Donald Trump’s rhetoric was actually behind the growing negative feelings spreading across the country. Then White House has obviously denied the accusations, but there is no denying things have drastically changed in America.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

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