Police are still looking for the guy who allegedly shot a Sikh man, now identified as Deep Rai, in the arm on a residential driveway in Washington state on Friday night, and are investigating this allegation as a hate crime, according to CNN affiliate KIRO.
The shooter allegedly told Rai, a United States citizen originally from India, to, “go back to your country,” just before shooting him. Rai was discharged from the hospital on Saturday and is expected to make a full recovery.
A spokesperson said in a statement that the FBI’s Seattle office will be investigating the crime alongside local Kent police: “The FBI remains committed to investigating crimes that are potentially hate-motivated and we continue to work with all our community partners in the Seattle area.”
The New York Times noted on Saturday that the attack Rai suffered resembles an assault on two Indian men that took place a couple weeks ago in Kansas City:
The attack bore a troubling resemblance to the shooting on Feb. 22 of Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, two immigrants from India who were shot by another patron in a bar outside Kansas City, Mo. The suspect in that case, Adam W. Purinton, had confronted the two Indians over their visa status and had been escorted out of the bar, before returning and opening fire. Mr. Kuchibhotla died of his injuries.
Jasmit Singh, a Seattle-area Sikh community leader, told CNN that there’s a discrepancy between how the Bush and Obama administrations might have condemned this attack, and the Trump administration’s silence, “In the past—in Bush, Obama time—there was swift action and communication saying that this is unacceptable. We aren’t seeing any response from this administration.”