Joe Biden has faced yet another mass shooting on his watch. Recently, he called the mass shooting that took place in the city of Indianapolis, which has resulted in the death of 8 people, including four people belonging to the Sikh community a “national embarrassment”.
During a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, Biden said “It’s not always that these mass shooting are occurring – every single day, there is a mass shooting in the United Staes, if you count all those who are killed on the streets of our cities and our rural areas, its a national embarrassment and must come to an end.”
Fredrick Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx, on Friday, called the shootings a ‘senseless act of violence and extended expressions of sympathy to the kin of those who lost their lives in the shooting.
In a statement, Smith wrote, “I want to express my deepest sympathies to the families, friends and co-workers of those team members. Our priority is responding to the situation on the ground and helping our team members and law enforcement. We have a team outside Indianapolis to provide support, and we are making counsellors available.”
The Indianapolis metropolitan police department identified eight victims that were killed in this barbarous act, which includes four people from the Sikh community. Deputy Chief Craig McCartt, on Friday, identified the gunman as 19-year old Brandon Hole, who was last employed in FedEx in 2020. “Hole was found dead of a gunshot wound, that appeared to be self-inflicted,” MacCartt said.
Harpreet Gill, an American citizen of Indian heritage, from Amritsar’s Jagdev Kalan, was one of the few who got injured during the shooting. Dr. Rajwant Singh, another member of the Sikh community, who is Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, called the crime unsettling for minorities including Sikhs. Rajwant said that it was sad to see so many innocent Sikhs becoming the victim of violence. He added that they are praying for the victims and their families. He also requested the Biden administration to offer every kind of help to all the victims in Indiana. “Sikh community is ready to do its part to assist,” Rajwant told ANI.
