White Male Yells “Go Back To Your Own Country” After Shooting Sikh Man In Washington
The consequences of hateful speech are showing themselves now more than ever.
Just a week after a man of Indian descent was killed in a Kansas bar, another person has been the target of a hate crime. Deep Rai, also an Indian national, told police he was working on his car in his own driveway when a white man confronted him.
An altercation reportedly began between the two then ended when the now suspect made the comment, “Go back to your own country,” and shot him. This all went down in Kent, Washington. A police spokesperson announced that the victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries and was shot in the arm.
“I can tell you right now we’re early on in our investigation. The shot resulted in non-life-threatening injuries. However, we are treating this as a very serious incident,” the spokesperson told the media.
The Kent police have also reached out to the FBI and other local agencies as the incident is now being investigated as a hate crime.
Jasmit Singh, a Sikh leader in the community, says hate crimes and discrimination have been on the rise since the election of Donald Trump.
“We’ve had our share of hate incidents in the past, but definitely the last two months there have been a distinct escalation of these cases,” he told Buzzfeed. “We are living in a very different climate.”
Watch local authorities address the public over the Kent incident below.