Gurpreet Singh called 911 saying someone had killed his family. His trial starts Monday
Late on a Sunday night in April 2019, Gurpreet Singh called 911.
"Help," he said. "They are bleeding."
Between heavy breathing and banging on neighbors' doors, Singh told the dispatcher he came home and found his family covered in blood. He said there were four victims, all on the floor of his West Chester apartment.
Singh, 40, now faces four counts of aggravated murder in connection with the deaths of his wife and relatives.
His jury trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court begins Monday. He has pleaded not guilty. He could face the death penalty.
Homicides are rare in West Chester, a suburban township of 64,000 north of Cincinnati. Outside of this case, the West Chester Police Department reported two other homicides in the last 10 years, according to FBI crime statistics.
The murders made international news in Indian outlets and shook the Sikh community in Greater Cincinnati.
One man and three women were shot with a handgun on the night of April 28, 2019, at their apartment. The victims were:
Shalinderjit Kaur, 39, Singh's wife.
Parmjit Kaur, 62, Singh's mother-in-law.
Amarjit Kaur, 58, Singh's wife's aunt.
Hakiakat Singh Pannag, 59, Singh's father-in-law.
Gurpreet Singh: 'I was in shock'
Before he was arrested and indicted, Singh told The Enquirer in May 2019 that he worked as a truck driver and was the sole breadwinner for the family. He said his family and his wife’s family helped out with their three children.
Singh's children have been staying with family as he awaits the trial.
He said the two families were close-knit and loving and that their apartments were within a mile of each other.
“We described it as one home with two roofs. I always called my in-laws mom and dad. No one in the community knew that I was the son-in-law. They thought I was their son," Singh said.
Singh told The Enquirer that the door looked forced open when he returned to the apartment that night. He said he found his mother-in-law lying on the tiles in the foyer and thought she had slipped. He said he saw his aunt lying on the floor and his father-in-law lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms.
"I became aware then everyone was bleeding, as was my wife who I found in the kitchen. She must have been cooking,” Singh said.
Singh said he was in shock when he called 911.
"I was in shock when I was calling out to the neighbors. I was in shock when I knocked on doors. I was in shock when I fell on the floor and the police came and took me to their car,” said Singh.
What was Singh's motive to allegedly kill his family?
It's not clear what prosecutors believe Singh's motive was. The Butler County Prosecutor's Office did not respond to The Enquirer's phone calls. Judge J. Gregory Howard denied a motion from Singh's lawyers to return the $10,300 the police took from his residence during a search. Howard wrote in his decision that the money or the circumstances in which it was left at the apartment may be related to the motive.
"We are not surprised it is him," Nirbhai Singh, brother to Amarjit and Parmjit, told The Enquirer after Gurpreet's arrest in July 2019.
“Whatever was going on in that house, fights, land disputes in India and the girl in Indiana … in my opinion, that’s the motive,” Nirbhai Singh said.
Some of Gurpreet’s family members disagreed at the time and said Gurpreet and Shalinder were very happy and the rumors about a girl in Indiana are easily explained. They said he went to court for the sister of a friend and translated divorce proceedings for her.
Those family members also said there is no land dispute. They said that 10 years ago, Gurpreet Singh’s uncle negotiated with his father-in-law Haikikat Singh to sell his land. Gurpreet Singh wasn't involved in the deal.
Singh is a U.S. citizen. Voter records show he's registered to vote in Butler County.
'Please find out what happened'
Singh was the first person police encountered after responding to his 911 call. A West Chester police officer found him laying on the ground outside of the apartment with blood on his clothes. His socks were soaked with blood, according to court documents.
The officer handcuffed Singh and then put him into the back of a police cruiser. Police said Singh was not a suspect at the time, but they wanted to talk to him because he was the only witness to what may have happened.Police said at a pretrial hearing that Singh was upset and "making very little sense" when they arrived on the scene.
Police brought Singh to the police department and took him into a so-called "soft" interview room. Officers said the soft rooms are different from interrogation rooms in that they're accessible from the lobby, while suspects are brought to interrogation rooms via a garage where police cruisers can pull in.
A detective asked Singh about a timeline of what he did that day and whether the family had a problem with anyone.
Singh asked to see his children multiple times. At one point he told the police "I will help you in any way but please find out what happened.”
Singh became upset when a detective told him the victims were shot and asked whether he owned a gun.
"They were shot?” he asked the detective. “Someone shot them?"
After the detective asked Singh to do a gunshot residue test, Singh said he wanted to go home "right now." The detective then read Singh his Miranda rights.
The detective asked Singh if he wanted to speak to him without a lawyer. Singh said no. Police detained him while getting a search warrant to test his hands for gunshot residue.
Gurpreet's children could be 'orphans'
Singh is represented by the law firm Rittgers & Rittgers, which recently defended former Cincinnati councilmember P.G. Sittenfeld in his corruption trial. Charles H. Rittgers, 71, withdrew from Singh's trial in August for health reasons. Singh's lead attorney is Neil Schuett.
"I believe in Gurpreet's innocence. I am very anxious for the jury to hear the facts of the case," Charles M. Rittgers, one of Singh's attorneys, told The Enquirer.
Rittgers emphasized what's at stake in this case.
"If the state is successful, it will mean Gurpreet’s children are orphans," he said.
The defense lawyers sought to suppress evidence from Singh's interview with the police, arguing that police detained Singh and interrogated him before giving him Miranda warnings, violating his constitutional rights. Howard overruled that motion in November 2020.
Singh was arrested in Connecticut in July 2019 and indicted in August 2019, but his trial was delayed. Court proceedings had to restart in December 2019 because Singh needed to be rearraigned with an interpreter present. Singh speaks English and Punjabi.
Singh’s lawyers also had trouble getting documents from India during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
What's expected this week
Jury selection begins at 9 a.m. on Monday at the Government Services Center in Hamilton. There are 300 jurors pulled. Half of the jury pool will be summoned on Monday and the other half on Tuesday.
Singh's lawyers added questions about how potential jurors' feelings about immigrants to the jury questionnaire, including:
How do you feel about a legal immigrant who becomes a United States citizen?
Are you totally against immigrants coming into the United States, even if legal?
Do you believe immigrants, even if legal, take jobs away from American citizens who were born here?
Erin Glynn is the watchdog reporter for Butler, Warren and Clermont counties through the Report For America program. The Enquirer needs local donors to help fund her grant-funded position. If you want to support Glynn's work, you can donate to her Report For America position at this website or email her editor Carl Weiser at cweiser@enquirer.com to find out how you can help fund her work.
Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at eglynn@enquirer.com and follow her on Twitter at @ee_glynn.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Gurpreet Singh: West Chester quadruple homicide trial begins Monday
