The victim had been released from the hospital Sunday, but wishes to remain anonymous and has not made any public statement after being shot in his own driveway in the town of Kent.
Local Sikhs, however, quickly came together over the weekend to work on increasing awareness and understanding of their community. And the larger community of Kent has expressed their solidarity as well.
“We have been getting so much appreciation, love, amazing support from the community. Everybody is rallying behind us,” Satwinder Kaur, a Sikh, candidate for Kent city council, and longtime local resident, told VOA.
“People are scared. But…we are not going to let this crime bring us down. We’re going to continue educating people. And we are going to talk about our culture and our community,” she said, speaking from her car as she drove to the local Sikh temple to speak on upcoming community outreach programs.
The town of Kent, which recorded a population of just over 125,000 according to 2015 census data, is about 15 percent Asian, including South Asians. Kent, just south of Seattle in the Northwestern state of Washington, boasts diversity, claiming its school district speaks 138 different languages.
The shooting of the Sikh man in Kent comes just one week after an Indian-American was fatally shot in Kansas City. Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, died of the wounds he sustained when a man allegedly opened fire in a crowded bar in suburban Kansas last Wednesday. Another Indian and an American who tried to intervene were injured in the incident.