2 wounded after fight sparks shooting at Sikh temple hosting Sacramento County parade

Ryan Lillis
·2 min read
4

Two people were shot Sunday afternoon at a Sikh temple in the Vineyard section of Sacramento County, according to authorities.

The shooting took place around 2:30 p.m. at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society on the 7600 block of Bradshaw Road, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi.

The shooting took place during the temple’s first Nagar Kirtan, a traditional neighborhood celebration for Indian religions such as Sikhism.

Gandhi said a fistfight had broken out between two men on the temple grounds. One of the men, Gandhi said, shot a friend of the other combatant.

The second man involved in the fight then fired upon the first man and ran off. Gandhi said just after 8:30 p.m. that the man was in custody.

A man is escorted to a sheriff’s vehicle after a shooting at the Sacramento Sikh Society Temple, it is unknown if he was involved, on Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Sacramento. The shooting occurred during the Sacramento Sikh Society’s first Nagar Kirtan Parade.
A man is escorted to a sheriff’s vehicle after a shooting at the Sacramento Sikh Society Temple, it is unknown if he was involved, on Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Sacramento. The shooting occurred during the Sacramento Sikh Society’s first Nagar Kirtan Parade.

Gandhi on Monday morning identified one of the suspects in the shooting as 21-year-old Karman Sandhu. Sandhu was booked late Sunday into the Sacramento County Main Jail downtown on a felony charge of attempted murder, jail booking records show. He is ineligible for bail.

A second suspect is expected to be booked into jail following release from the hospital. His identity will not be released until he is booked, Gandhi said.

Asked if there was an imminent threat to the area, Gandhi said the situation “looks very contained.”

“It puts a small stain on this peaceful, very joyous day.”

The two people who were wounded were hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente hospital in south Sacramento with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Around 3:30 p.m. deputies were seen walking two men out of the parade in handcuffs, though it was unclear if either was involved in the incident. The men were placed into the back of separate Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles as a crowd of dozens of people watched in near silence, many holding phones up to record the events.

Deputies were expected to remain at the scene through the evening combing through eyewitness statements and cellphone video.

Hours before the shooting, five men known as the Panj Pyare stand in front of the float with the Holy Scripture on Sunday to mark the start of the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society’s first Nagar Kirtan parade at the society’s temple on Bradshaw Road in Sacramento County. The event is a Sikh custom that involves the singing of holy hymns in a processional through a community.

The society on Sunday held a parade as part of the Nagar Kirtan festivities. County officials had closed Bradshaw Road, Vintage Park Drive, Elk Grove Florin Road and Gerber Road as part of the parade, which was scheduled to last until 5 p.m.

Just before 4 p.m., hundreds of festivalgoers were slowly filing away as dozens of deputies and a sheriff’s helicopter urged people to leave the scene. Some who had attended the festival lingered while snacking on jalebi, a sweet dessert popular in India and Pakistan.

Customers shop with a vender set-up at the temple during the Sacramento Sikh Society’s first Nagar Kirtan Parade on Sunday, March 26, 2023, at the Sacramento Sikh Society Temple in Sacramento.
Customers shop with a vender set-up at the temple during the Sacramento Sikh Society’s first Nagar Kirtan Parade on Sunday, March 26, 2023, at the Sacramento Sikh Society Temple in Sacramento.