21-year-old youth from Punjab’s Banga shot dead in US

He had moved to the US two years ago and was working there at a grocery store.

Dharampreet Singh Jasser, 21, of Khothran village of Banga in Punjab, who had moved to the US two years ago, was shot dead purportedly by robbers at a grocery store where he worked, in Fresno city of California late on Tuesday night, local time.

Dharampreet Singh Jasser, 21, was shot dead purportedly by robbers at a grocery store where he worked, in Fresno city of California. (HT Photo)

Dharampreet had moved to the US in February of 2015 and stayed with his paternal grandparents who had settled there some years ago. He worked part-time at a grocery store at a petrol pump, his family here said. His parents, a sister and the rest of the family came to know about his death on Wednesday morning when his grandfather, Bhag Singh, called up. A pall of gloom descended in the village.

“Our father called me up on Wednesday morning and said Dharampreet was shot dead by four local residents, who had come to loot the store,” he said, adding that Dharampreet was the “only son of the family”.

He added, “It may be a hate crime as we have been informed that the robbers exchanged heated arguments with Dharampreet and one of them opened fire at him before leaving the store.”

“Police will have the post-mortem examination conducted on Thursday, and later we will decide about his cremation to be done in the US or if the body shall be brought to India,” he said.