The incident happened Friday night around 8:00 p.m. in Kent’s East Hill neighborhood. The victim, a Sikh follower, was approached by a white man wearing a mask on the lower half of his face, according to police.
After approaching the victim, the unknown man started an altercation during which the masked man told the 39-year-old victim to go back to his own country before shooting him in the arm and fleeing, reports the Seattle Times.
The victim says the man who shot him was a white man about six-feet tall with a stocky build and wearing dark clothing. The assailant was wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face.
Kent police Commander Jarod Kasner told reporters that police spent Saturday processing the crime scene and speaking to potential witnesses. The victim was said to be wearing a turban at the time of the incident. The potential hate crime prompted the police to contact the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Kasner also said the incident has gotten the attention of the Sikh community. “With recent unrest and concern throughout the nation, this can get people emotionally involved, especially when (the crime) is directed at a person for how they live, how they look,” Kasner said, according to the News Tribune.
The Sikh Coalition, a national advocacy group for Sikhs, issued a statement Saturday calling for national leaders to “make hate-crime prevention a top priority.” On Sunday, the coalition tweeted that the shooting is now being investigated as a “hate crime.”
The Sikh religion originated in India during the 15th century. Followers of this religion believe in one immortal being. Followers share strong ethno-religious ties, and in many countries, suck as the UK, they are designated as an ethnicity on the censuses.
It is abhorrent that in a country founded on religious freedom, we have come down to singling out people who have religious beliefs that are different from our own. Where has “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” gone?
