Washington: Four members of a Sikh family, including three women, have been fatally shot in their home in the US, authorities said. The victims who died of gunshot wounds in their home in a suburban Ohio community were found by another relative who called the police, West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog told reporters.
“My wife and three other family members were on the ground and bleeding… they’re bleeding from the head,” a man said on the 911 call that was released by the police. “No one’s talking, no one’s talking,” he shouted.
A local religious leader Monday identified the deceased as Hakikat Singh Panag, 59, his wife, Paramjit Kaur, 62, their daughter, Shalinder Kaur, 39, and his sister-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58. They were all shot to death around 9:50pm (local time) Sunday, according to a report in the ‘Cincinnati Enquirer’.
A coroner said all four deaths were homicides and they died from ‘gunshots’. At least one of them was preparing food when they died. By the time police arrived at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex, the unattended dish was on fire.
Herzog said all four victims lived in the apartment where the shooting occurred. Children also live there, he said, but they were not there at the time of the attack. The Indian consulate in New York said it was in close communication with police.
“Our condolences to the bereaved family. We are in constant touch with the police and family. We are confident about the culprit being brought to book,” the Indian consulate, tweeted.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted Tuesday that she was aware of the crime and did not believe it to be a hate crime. According to her tweets, one of the murder victims was an Indian resident in the US on a visit.
No suspect has been identified even though investigations are on, police said. Such violent crime is rare in the township of some 62,000 people roughly 323 kilometers north of Cincinnati.