Indianapolis shooting: 'Sikhs have been through enough trauma'

About 90 per cent of the workers at the delivery service facility are said to be Indian-Americans, mostly from the Sikh community

The grieving families of the Indian-Americans working at a FedEx facility in the US state of Indiana expressed their anger, fear and anxiety as they received the news of a mass shooting that killed eight people, including four Sikhs.

Brandon Scott Hole, 19, and a former employee at the facility in Indianapolis carried out the mass shooting on late Thursday before allegedly committing suicide.

About 90 per cent of the workers at this delivery service facility are said to be Indian-Americans, mostly from the Sikh community.

Late Friday night, the Marion County Coroner's Office and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) released the names of the victims: Amarjeet Johal (66), Jasvinder Kaur (64), Amarjit Skhon (48) and Jaswinder Singh (68). The first three deceased are women.

Also read: Eight dead in FedEx warehouse shooting in Indianapolis

“Enough is enough – our community has been through enough trauma.” Komal Chohan, granddaughter of one of the deceased - Amarjeet Johal - was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

“I am heartbroken to confirm that my naniji (maternal grandmother), Amarjeet Kaur Johal, is among those killed in the senseless shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis,” Chohan said.

She said that several of her family members work at the particular facility and are traumatised.

"My nani, my family, and our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere,” Chohan continued.

For Kamal Jawandha, it was a miracle that both of his parents, who worked at the facility and were present there at the time of shooting, escaped unhurt.

Jawandha said that his father had brought his mother food and was getting ready to go inside when the shooting started. His mother hid in the bathroom when the shooting started.

“She’s in deep sadness. She could not sleep. She just can’t stop shaking. She can’t believe this kind of thing would happen here,” Jawandha was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

This is the worst Sikh massacre in the US after the Oak Creek Gurdwara mass shooting in Wisconsin on August 5, 2012, where seven members of the community were killed.

Although Sikhs began settling in Indiana more than 50 years ago, the first gurdwara was established in 1999. In the last two decades, the Sikh population around Indianapolis has experienced significant growth. Now there are 10 gurdwaras across the state and an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Sikh Americans who have made Indiana their home.