Lt. Governor of California Contacts Richmond Police Chief

On July 15th, the Lieutenant Governor of California, Cruz Bustamante, contacted Chief Joseph Samuels of the City of Richmond Police Department to express his concern for the safety of Sikh Americans in the city of Richmond. In the first week of July, two Sikh taxi cab drivers in Richmond, Gurpreet Singh and Inderjit Singh, were shot in what the local community considers hate crime attacks. Gurpreet Singh, 23 years old, was killed. The Lt. Governor, a long-time supporter of the Sikh community, called upon the Police Chief to conduct a, "thorough and expeditious investigation into the nature of these crimes and please inform me of the outcome." The copy of the entire letter is below.

In the meantime, Sikh organizations in the United States, including the Sikh Coalition, Sikh Communications Council, the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Taskforce, Sikhpoint and SikhNet have supported the Sikh community in Richmond and are calling upon local and national law enforcement to determine as quickly as possible the nature of the crimes.