Texas: A trailblazing Indian-American Sikh police officer, who made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job, has been shot and killed in an “ambush-style” attack in a “ruthless, cold-blooded way” in the US State of Texas, a senior official said on Saturday.
Sandeep Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of the Texas police department, was attacked when he stopped a vehicle with a man and woman inside and one of them got out and shot him “ambush-style” at least twice in a “ruthless, cold-blooded way”, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters. Mr Dhaliwal was the deputy sheriff of Harris County.
The shooter was seen working to a purchasing centre close by, officers mentioned. Investigators have been in a position to determine what the shooter regarded like by watching Sandeep Dhaliwal’s dashcam video.
“They immediately looked at his dashcam to see what the suspect looked like, they took a photo of the suspect on the scene with their phone and immediately got that out to our intel people,” Ed Gonzalez mentioned.
Since 2015, Sandeep Dhaliwal was the “history-making” police officer in Texas to serve while keeping his Sikh articles of faith, including a turban and beard. He was allowed to wear the turban and beard while patrolling the streets in order to bolster cultural diversity.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, released a statement on Friday, saying “this tragic loss is a grave reminder of the risks that our law enforcement officers face every single day.”
