Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sikh deputy killed in Texas shooting

- MARISA IATI Informatio­n for this article was contribute­d by Corey Williams and Tammy Webber to The Associated Press.

One of the first sheriff’s deputies in the country to wear a traditiona­l Sikh turban on duty was fatally shot from behind Friday while conducting a traffic stop in the Houston area, authoritie­s said.

Sandeep Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of law enforcemen­t, was shot multiple times by one of two people in the stopped car, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters.

“He wore the turban. He represente­d his community with integrity, respect and pride,” Gonzalez said. “And again, he was respected by all.”

Dhaliwal, 41, was returning to his patrol car about 1 p.m. when a man got out of the stopped car with a pistol and shot him “in a coldbloode­d manner, ambush-style,” Gonzalez said. He said he did not know the reason for the stop or the motive for the shooting.

First responders took Dhaliwal to a hospital, where he was declared dead about 4 p.m.

Robert Solis, 47, was charged with capital murder in connection with the killing, the sheriff’s office announced Friday. He had an active parole-violation warrant in a January 2017 case in which he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

A woman whom police believed to be a passenger in the stopped car was also in custody Friday, the sheriff’s office said. Officials said they had confiscate­d the gun they believed was used in the shooting.

Solis was denied bond at a hearing early Saturday.

Authoritie­s haven’t speculated as to Solis’ motive or suggested that it was a hate crime. Authoritie­s wrote in a court filing Saturday that there is “credible informatio­n” Solis could have a mental illness or intellectu­al disability.

Dhaliwal, whom his colleagues described as a “trailblaze­r,” owned a lucrative trucking business before he sold it to join the sheriff’s office, Harris County Commission­er Adrian Garcia said. Dhaliwal wanted to build a bridge between the department and the Houston area’s large Sikh community because of a prior “mishap,” Garcia said.

Garcia did not offer details about that incident, but The Washington Post previously reported that he reached out to Sikhs in 2009 because of a confrontat­ion with a Sikh family the prior year. When the family called to report a burglary, deputies reportedly were alarmed to see the men wearing beards and turbans and carrying small daggers, which Sikhs sometimes wear at their waists as a reminder of their faith’s martial history. The deputies called for more officers and interrogat­ed the family, The Post reported.

A husband and a father of three children, Dhaliwal joined the Harris County sheriff’s office as a detention officer and worked his way up. He was the first adherent of Sikhism, a monotheist­ic religion that originated in India, to become a deputy.

The Harris County sheriff in 2015 announced that Dhaliwal would be allowed to wear his religion’s beard and turban while on patrol. At the time, only police department­s in the District of Columbia and Riverside, Calif., had made that accommodat­ion.

Dhaliwal was known to have a giving heart, Gonzalez said. He coordinate­d the arrival of a tractor-trailer that brought donations from California to the Houston area in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey. When a colleague’s relatives in Puerto Rico needed help after Hurricane Maria the same year, Gonzalez said Dhaliwal joined the department’s trip to provide aid there.

Dhaliwal’s last actions were ones of service, Gonzalez said.

“He died a hero,” Gonzalez said. “He died serving the Harris County community.”

Sheriff’s office Maj. Mike Lee, who watched the dashboard-camera video of Dhaliwal’s traffic stop, told reporters that the driver-side door of the suspect’s car was open for about two minutes while Dhaliwal talked with him. The conversati­on did not appear combative, Lee said.

Dhaliwal then shut the car door and began to walk back to his patrol car, Lee said. About three seconds later, Lee said Solis opened the door, got out with a gun in his hand and ran toward Dhaliwal. He shot Dhaliwal in the back of the head, Lee said.

A neighbor reported hearing two gunshots and seeing the shooter run away and leave in a “getaway car,” Lee told reporters.

As a sign of respect, Gonzalez said sheriff’s office deputies lined the walkway to the medical examiner’s office when Dhaliwal’s body was taken there. Community members later held an impromptu memorial vigil.

 ?? AP/Houston Chronicle/JON SHAPLEY ?? Law enforcemen­t officers and others mourn Friday after escorting the body of Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal to Houston’s Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
AP/Houston Chronicle/JON SHAPLEY Law enforcemen­t officers and others mourn Friday after escorting the body of Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal to Houston’s Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

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