Quadruple slaying probe is ‘proceeding’
WESTCHESTERTWP.— Nearly a month after four people were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in a West Chester Twp. apartment, there have been no arrests in the homicides.
A man called 911 at about 9:40 p.m. on Sunday, April 28, and told dispatchers he arrived home to discover his family members, including his wife, lying on the ground bleeding from the head.
West Chester Police officers found Hakiakat Singh Pannag, 59, and his wife, Parmjit Kaur, 62, in their apartment at 4562 Wyndtree Drive with their daughter, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39 and Parmjit Kaur’s sister, Amarjit Kaur, 58.
On Friday, Barb Wilson, West Chester Twp. spokeswoman, said the investigation is “proceeding.”
She said she could not reveal if police have any suspects or persons of interest.
“To protect the integrity of the investigation, they are not in a position to give any additional information,” Wilson said.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said his office is “in the loop” about the investigation and he is “confident that (West Chester police) have everything they can get their hands on regarding the investigation at this point.”
The quadruple homicide is the single deadliest Butler County crime since Easter Sunday in 1975, when 11 members of the Ruppert family were killed by 41-yearold James Ruppert. It also appears to be the deadliest single incident since 1991, when five people died in a motor vehicle crash in Madison Twp., according to the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
Police released body cam footage of three officers who first responded to the scene. In the three clips, each between 2 and 3 minutes long, officers are seen driving to the apartment complex and getting out of cruisers to run toward the building. The videos stop right before the officers enter the apartment.
They handcuff a man emerging from the building where the family was found after ordering him to lay on his stomach. That man was the 911 caller. Police have said the man was questioned but is not in custody.
Local detectives and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation dive team have searched the Wyndtree Drive apartment as well as a pond behind the complex looking for evidence. At least one additional residence and a car were searched in the past three weeks.
Police and township officials have repeatedly said the homicides are not classified as hate crimes, nor are they random shootings. Officials have not commented on why they believe the shootings are not random.
Two of the shooting victims, Hakiakat Singh Pannag and Parmjit Kaur, were set to arrive earlier this month in India to visit Pannag’s brother, according to the Hindustan Times.
“We are totally in the dark,” Harbans Singh, Pannag’s brother, told the Indian news outlet. “Don’t know how it happened and who is behind it. I just know that I have lost my brother.”
Staff Writer Michael Pitman contributed to this report