The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition sent out coordinated alerts today that a 46-year-old Sikh American man in Florida was shot while driving last Saturday night with his 13-year-old son over the Dunlawton Avenue Bridge in Port Orange, Florida:

According to local news reports, as Mr. Kanwaljit Singh was traveling in his car with his 13-year-old son, a late 80s to early 90s Ford F-150 truck pulled up beside him, and several shots were fired.  As Mr. Singh pulled over to the side of the road to call the police, he realized that he had been shot in his thigh and torso.  He is currently receiving treatment at a local hospital.

Kanwaljit Singh is reported to be in critical but stable condition in hospital. His son was not injured. The perpetrator(s) escaped and are still at-large. Thus far, a brief description of the suspect’s truck has been released:

The suspect’s vehicle has a “FORD” decal or emblem on the sides of its truck bed, near the rear, according to the police report.

Coincidentally, in the investigation of the 2011 drive-by shooting murders of Surinder Singh and Gurmej Atwal in Sacramento, California, local police have been searching for mysterious pick-up truck as well. That crime has yet to be solved, and no connection to the Florida shooting has been established.

SALDEF and the Sikh Coalition have called on investigators to determine whether this attack was a bias or hate crime, and have asked that anyone with specific information about the attack on Kanwaljit Singh to contact the Port Orange Police Department‘s Detective Jeff Wenzel at (386) 506-5884 or (386) 506-5800.

More information is available at the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Let us hope and pray for the recovery of Kanwaljit Singh, and that the perpetrator is brought to swift justice.