Four Sikhs among victims of Indianapolis mass shooting
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Amarjit Sekhon, a 48-year-old mother of two sons, was the breadwinner of her family and one of many members of Indianapolis’ tight knit Sikh community employed at a FedEx warehouse on the city’s southwest side.
Her death Thursday night in a mass shooting that claimed the lives of seven other FedEx employees — four of them Sikhs — has left that community stunned and in mourning, her brother-in-law, Kuldip Sekhon, said Saturday.
He said his sister-in-law began working at the FedEx facility in November - after previously working at a bakery - and was a dedicated worker whose husband was disabled.
“She was a workaholic, she always was working, working. She would never sit still unless she felt really bad,” he said.
In addition to Sekhon, the Marion County Coroner’s office identified the dead late Friday as: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74.
Police said Brandon Scott Hole, 19, apparently began firing randomly at people in the parking lot of the FedEx facility, killing four, before entering the building, fatally shooting four more people and then turning the gun on himself.
It was not clear if Sikhs were targeted in the shooting. Hole’s motives remained unclear Saturday.
The killings marked the latest in a string of recent mass shootings across the country and the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis.
Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt said Hole was a former employee of FedEx and last worked for the company in 2020. The deputy police chief said he did not know why Hole left the job or if he had ties to the workers in the facility.
About 90% of the workers at the facility near the Indianapolis International Airport...