Sikh man killed in US shooting remembered
LOS ANGELES : Indian-origin Sikh Taptejdeep Singh, who was among the nine people killed in the latest horrific mass shooting incident in the US, has been hailed as a hero who lived by the values of service and protection of others, his family members said, as they tried to find comfort hearing how he spent his final moments helping his colleagues to safety.
Samuel Cassidy, 57, a maintenance worker of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), San Jose, on Wednesday gunned down nine of his co-workers in one of the deadliest shootings in California state in recent years.
Singh, 36, who was a light rail operator at the VTA for nine years, was the first victim to be publicly identified by his family after the incident.
“Even in these moments of chaos, Taptejdeep was living by the values of Sikhi: living in service and protection of others,” Singh’s brother Kamran said in a statement issued on behalf of the family on Thursday.
“We choose to remember Taptejdeep as the hero he was, both in those final moments and throughout his life of service,” USA TODAY reported quoting the statement.
Kamran said that his family was comforted hearing how he spent his final moments trying to keep his co-workers safe.
The father of a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, Singh liked to arrange camping trips as well as motorcycle rides with co-workers.
Born in Punjab and raised in Union City, California, he was killed while he was trying to make sure others were safe.
Co-workers at the light rail yard at the VTA said he left the safety of an office room, where some colleagues were hiding, to help others escape the line of fire. Sukhvir Singh, another VTA employee, said Singh called him to warn him about the shooter. “Because of him, so many people were able to go home to their families,” Sukhvir said.
“We will never forget how he lived to the highest ideals of Sikhi in a moment of crisis, and my prayers are with his family and the families of all those who lost loved ones in this horrific attack,” he was quoted as saying by USA TODAY.
The Sikh Coalition, an organisation that works to protect civil rights, has reached out to offer help to Singh’s family, the report said.