Members of Indianapolis’ tight-knit Sikh community joined with metropolis officers to name for gun reforms Saturday as they mourned the deaths of 4 Sikhs who had been among the many eight individuals killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse.

At a vigil attended by greater than 200 at an Indianapolis park Saturday night, Aasees Kaur, who represented the Sikh Coalition, spoke out alongside town’s mayor and different elected officers to demand motion that will forestall such assaults from taking place once more.

“We should help each other, not simply in grief, however in calling our policymakers and elected officers to make significant change,” Kaur stated. “The time to behave shouldn’t be later, however now. We’re far too many tragedies, too late, in doing so.”

The assault was one other blow to the Asian American group a month after authorities stated six individuals of Asian descent had been killed by a gunman within the

space and amid ongoing assaults towards Asian Individuals through the coronavirus pandemic.

About 90{4298251308cd288b939effe95b4c029e39df70679b4587e1449e43e4b08368d8} of the employees on the FedEx warehouse close to the Indianapolis Worldwide Airport are members of the native Sikh group, police stated Friday.

Kiran Deol, who attended the vigil in help of relations affected by the taking pictures, stated loopholes within the regulation that make it simpler for people to purchase weapons “must be closed now,” and emphasised that anybody who tries to purchase a firearm ought to be required to have their background checked.

“The gun violence is unacceptable. Have a look at what’s occurred … it must be stopped,” Deol stated. “We’d like extra reform. We’d like gun legal guidelines to be tougher, stronger, in order that accountable individuals are those which have weapons. That is what we wish to deliver consciousness to.”

Satjeet Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s govt director, stated the complete group was traumatized by the “mindless” violence.

“Whereas we do not but know the motive of the shooter, he focused a facility identified to be closely populated by Sikh workers,” Kaur stated.

There are between 8,000 and 10,000 Sikh Individuals in Indiana, in keeping with the coalition. Members of the faith, which started in India within the fifteenth century, started settling in Indiana greater than 50 years in the past.

One of many victims of Thursday evening’s taking pictures was Amarjit Sekhon, a 48-year-old Sikh mom of two sons who was the breadwinner of her household.

Kuldip Sekhon stated his sister-in-law started working on the FedEx facility in November and was a devoted employee whose husband was disabled.

“She was a workaholic, she at all times was working, working,” he stated. “She would by no means sit nonetheless … the opposite day she had the (COVID-19) shot and he or she was actually sick, however she nonetheless went to work.”

Along with Sekhon, the Marion County Coroner’s workplace recognized the lifeless as: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74.

Kuldip Sekhon stated his household misplaced one other relative within the taking pictures – Kaur, who was his son’s mother-in-law. He stated each Kaur and Amarjit Sekhon each started working on the FedEx facility final yr.

“We had been planning to have a party tonight, however now we’re right here as an alternative. This … that is powerful for us,” Sukhpreet Rai, who can be associated to Kaur and Sehkon, stated Saturday. “They had been each very charming.”

Komal Chohan, who stated Amarjeet Johal was her grandmother, stated in an announcement issued by the Sikh Coalition that her relations, together with a number of who work on the FedEx warehouse, are “traumatized” by the killings.

“My nani, my household, and our households shouldn’t really feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or wherever. Sufficient is sufficient – our group has been by sufficient trauma,” she stated within the assertion.

The coalition says about 500,000 Sikhs dwell within the U.S. Many training Sikhs are visually distinguishable by their articles of religion, which embody the unshorn hair and turban.

The taking pictures is the deadliest incident of violence collectively within the Sikh group within the U.S. since 2012, when a white supremacist burst right into a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and shot 10 individuals, killing seven.

In Indianapolis, police stated Brandon Scott Gap, 19, a former employee on the FedEx facility killed eight individuals there earlier than killing himself. Authorities haven’t launched a motive.

Gap was in possession of two assault rifles, which he bought legally in July and September of 2020, in keeping with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Police stated Gap was witnessed utilizing each rifles through the assault.

Gap’s household stated in an announcement Saturday they’re “so sorry for the ache and damage” his actions brought on.

Paul Keenan, particular agent in control of the FBI‘s Indianapolis subject workplace, stated Friday that brokers questioned Gap final yr after his mom referred to as police to say that her son may commit “suicide by cop.” He stated brokers discovered no proof of against the law and that they didn’t establish Gap as espousing a racially motivated ideology.

Samaria Blackwell, of Indianapolis, was a soccer and basketball participant who final yr graduated from Indy Genesis, a Christian aggressive sports activities group for homeschooled college students. Her dad and mom stated Saturday in an announcement that she was an outgoing “individuals particular person” who can be missed “immensely” by them and her canine, Jasper.

“As an clever, straight A scholar, Samaria may have achieved something she selected to place her thoughts to, and since she liked serving to individuals, she dreamed of turning into a police officer. Though that dream has been minimize quick, we imagine that proper now she is rejoicing in heaven along with her Savior,” they stated.

Matthew Alexander, of Avon, simply west of Indianapolis, was a former Butler College scholar and a 2007 graduate of Avon Excessive Faculty. Relations and a number of other of his former teammates on Avon’s baseball staff attended a sport Saturday in his reminiscence. They carried his former uniform, No. 16, onto the sphere, the place they hugged and cried.

Albert Ashcraft, a former FedEx driver, stated Alexander dispatched drivers to places for deliveries, ready their paperwork and was well-liked as a result of he regarded out for the drivers, even ensuring they acquired treats.

“Individuals would deliver doughnuts in and he was at all times sticking doughnuts again for his drivers,” he informed The Indianapolis Star.