Two wounded in gurudwara shooting in California’s Sacramento

Two persons were injured in a gunshot outside a gurudwara in Sacramento County, California, on Sunday afternoon, according to local media. The injured have been hospitalized, and authorities have stated that the event is not a hate crime.

The Sikh society said that it was “unfortunate that a few misguided people” tried to ruin the Nagar Kirtan parade that was being held. “We hope the culprit(s) is punished to the fullest extent of the law,” it said in a statement.

County-based The Sacramento Bee reported that the shooting took place on Sunday afternoon at around 2.30 pm local time (3 am IST on Monday) at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society. At 3.30 pm, police officials were seen taking away two men from the parade, though their involvement in the shooting is yet to be confirmed.

According to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a fistfight broke out between two males on the temple grounds, which led to a shooting. He told Sacramento-based KCRA-TV that one of the suspects was apprehended right after, while the other — a “East Indian man in his 20s or 30s” — was first thought to remain at large. He was later apprehended at 8.30 p.m. local time. (9 am IST on Monday).

“The individuals involved all seemed to know each other. It seemed very targeted in the fact that it wasn’t some random thing that posed any danger to the other patrons other than the shooting,” he told KCRA-TV, which said that there were around 10,000 people present.

“One suspect during that fight shot a friend of the other suspect,” Gandhi told local Fox40 news. “Once the other suspect, who didn’t get shot, gathered himself, he shot at the original shooter and then our second shooter ran off.” He added that the situation “looks very contained,” ruling out any further threats to the area or the parade.