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Sikh Political Action Committee forms task force after FedEx mass shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Sikh Political Action Committee said it is forming a task force after eight people were fatally shot Thursday night at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis.

Representatives said immigrants often work in warehouse jobs like FedEx because the language isn’t as big of a hurdle. But with concern about crimes against immigrants growing companies need to rethink security.

“How we can take a lesson from this and make sure this does not happen in the future,” said Gurinder Singh Khalsa with the Sikh PAC.

The Sikh community saw four of its members killed in the Thursday mass shooting, but the Sikh PAC says the fight ahead is for all eight victims, with the hopes of this never happening again.

“That’s why we are working on a task force to figure out how to assess what were the lapses in the securities here and what were the lapses about the FBI, and how he could get automatic assault rifles,” Khalsa.

Khalsa said the FedEx location had a large Sikh population. Immigrants often make up a large proportion of the workforce and are some of the most vulnerable because of how they look.

But he says despite recommendation prior to the shooting for added security measures, none were taken. He says the community wants answers for that.

“We were thinking that these kind of places are very safe and secure. But this is a wake up call for not only FedEx, but for every warehouse facility — in Indiana, in the U.S. — that they need to reassess their security for their employees,” he said.

Khalsa says the question aren’t just for FedEx. He said it’s past time for government leaders to firmly address mental health and gun control.

“We need pressure on the federal, state and local elected officials, who need to step up. They need to work on this.”