S. Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister of India, took to Twitter and condemned the death of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, an Indian-American Sikh officer in Texas, the United States (U.S.)
Mr. Jaishankar said, “Deeply grieved to learn of the shooting of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, a Sikh Indian-American officer in Houston, USA. We have just visited that city. My condolences to his family.”
On the 28th of September, Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal was shot dead while he was on duty on a busy road of Houston. He was immediately rushed to the hospital in a helicopter, but he passed away on the way.
Deputy Sandeep Singh was described as “a trailblazer” as he was the first Sikh to join the Harris County Sheriff’s Office 10 years ago (2009.) In 2015, he made headlines for being the one sheriff officer permitted to wear a turban and grow a beard.
Mike Lee, a Major in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, said, “Dhaliwal’s dashboard camera captured video showing Dhaliwal speaking with the driver in what appeared to be a conversational tone with “no combat, no arguing”. The driver’s door was opened at one point, and Dhaliwal shut it as the driver remained in the vehicle. When Dhaliwal turned to walk back to his patrol car, the driver steps from the car “almost immediately running with a gun already out. The driver shot the deputy from behind, hitting him in the back of the head. The driver got back in his car and drove away.”
The investigators immediately launched an investigation and arrested the shooter with the help of Deputy Sandeep Singh’s dashboard camera footage.
The investigators said, “They immediately looked at his dashcam to see what the suspect looked like, they took a photo of the suspect on the scene with their phone and immediately got that out to our intel people.”
Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal is survived by his wife, three children and a brother.
Stay tuned for further updates.
