Sikhs respond to ‘hate crime’ shooting near Seattle with fear, sadness and disbelief

White shooter allegedly told victim ‘go back to your own country’ before opening fire

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A man wears a head covering with the stars and stripes as he attends Sunday services at the Gurudwara Singh Sabha of Washington, a Sikh temple in Renton, south of Seattle. Photo: AP

Published: 3:09pm, 6 Mar 2017Updated: 3:09pm, 6 Mar 2017

Fear, hurt and disbelief weighed on the minds of those who gathered at a Washington State Sikh temple Sunday after the shooting of a Sikh man who said a gunman approached him in his suburban Seattle driveway and told him “go back to your own country.”

“Everybody who is part of this community needs to be vigilant,” Satwinder Kaur, a Sikh community leader, said as several hundred people poured into a temple in Renton for worship services about one mile from Friday night’s shooting.

“It is scary,” she added. “The community has been shaken up.”

Authorities said a gunman approached the 39-year-old Sikh man as he worked on his car in his driveway in the city of Kent, about 30km south of Seattle. The FBI will help investigate the shooting, authorities said.

Men and women attend Sunday services at the Gurudwara Singh Sabha of Washington, a Sikh temple in Renton, south of Seattle. Photo: AP

Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said the department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. He said no arrests have been made yet after the victim was shot in the arm but that he did not believe anyone was in imminent danger.

“This is a top priority investigation, and we are doing everything possible to identify and arrest the suspect,” Thomas said in an email, adding that residents in the city of about 125,000 should “be vigilant” but also not let the shooting hurt their quality of life.