Store Owner Sikh shot and killed

Milwaukee. Dec 30, 2003

A fatally wounded store clerk was taken to a hospital 12 minutes after
paramedics responded to a shooting Sunday at a north side grocery store,
Milwaukee Police and Fire departments' records show.

Deputy Police Chief Brian O'Keefe denied allegations by relatives of
Sandeep Singh that detectives questioned him for 40 minutes before he was
taken to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa after the
shooting.

"We're out there to save lives," O'Keefe said in an interview. "We're not
going to take any injury to a citizen lightly. That's just not going to occur."

Two detectives were in the area of the shooting at Valentine Foods, 2101
W. Auer Ave., and heard gunfire shortly before 7:30 p.m., O'Keefe said.

They began cruising the area and were flagged down by several people
outside the store, he said.

When the detectives entered and found Singh semiconscious, they asked
him several questions but stopped when he appeared to be struggling to
answer them, O'Keefe said.

Detectives also knew that Singh was wounded in the torso, O'Keefe said,
contradicting a relative's assertion that they were aware only of an arm
wound, prompting a delay in his conveyance to the hospital.

Police Department dispatch records show the detectives arrived at the
shooting at 7:22 p.m. and immediately called for medical attention.

Fire Department records show that an engine arrived at 7:26 p.m.,
paramedics at 7:28 p.m. and Singh was taken to the hospital at 7:40 p.m.

The records, which O'Keefe provided, also shows that Singh arrived at
Froedtert at 7:51 p.m., and a medical examiner's report shows he was
pronounced dead at 7:59 p.m.

After firefighters arrived, the only statements made to Singh by police were
to comfort him, O'Keefe said.

"They were not going to do anything to interfere with the medical personnel's
attempts to save the man's life," O'Keefe said.

Police were unclear about a motive behind the killing. Relatives said no
money was taken from the store, although police have said the shooter
entered wearing a mask and Singh was shot as the man was leaving.

On Tuesday morning, as Ramandip Kaur cradled her 6-month-old son in
the living room of her north side home, relatives wondered why anyone
would want to kill the baby's father, a 36-year-old Indian immigrant known
as Sunny.

"I was Papa, my wife was Mama and he was Sunny," said Singh's father,
Surinder Singh, describing how customers referred to the operators of
Valentine Foods and Sunny's Foods, 1847 N. 12th St.

"His customers were like family to him," Surinder Singh said.

Sandeep Singh grew up in Amritsar, in India's Punjab province, earned a
college degree and fled to America to avoid the religious strife in his country,
said his uncle, Dev Walia.

Walia described his nephew as a religious man who attended services at the
Sikh Temple in Brookfield just hours before he died.

Sandeep Singh put in more than 15 hours a day, seven days a week at the
two stores, Walia said.

"He was very generous," his uncle said, describing how his nephew had
been sending money back to India to help a younger brother with a wife and
child.

After arriving in Milwaukee, Sandeep Singh worked briefly in a factory and
a gas station before he began working at Valentine Foods, his uncle said.

He acquired ownership of the business last year in November and acquired
Sunny's Foods in May, Walia said.

"He was becoming successful," Walia said.

Singh's father and mother, Varinder Kaur, arrived in Milwaukee about two
years ago and later began helping their son run his businesses, Walia said.

"There is supposed to be justice here," he said.

As of Tuesday, Singh's slaying was Milwaukee's 106th homicide this year,
compared with 108 on same date last year, which was the total number of
killings in the city for 2002.

Police were seeking his killer late Tuesday.

From the Dec. 31, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel