In a shooting rampage on Saturday, a gunman in Arizona fatally shot the Sikh owner of a Chevron gas station, and then, 20 minutes later, shot at but missed a clerk of Lebanese descent at a Mobil station.
Soon afterward, a gunman fired several shots into the home of a family of Afghan descent, but hit no one.
Police in Mesa, Ariz., charged Frank Roque, 42, with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of drive-by shooting. Bond was set at $1 million.
The East Valley Tribune reported that Roque shouted, “I stand for America all the way,” as he was handcuffed. Police did not declare that the shootings were motivated by the victims’ ethnicity, but they notified FBI officials who investigate hate crimes.
The gas station owner who was killed, Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, was from India. Moving to the United States 10 years ago, he came to Arizona and opened his gas station a year ago.
In another killing, a Pakistani Muslim in Dallas, Waqar Hassan, was found fatally shot in his grocery store on Saturday night.
Police said a “considerable amount” of money was left in the cash register, and they could not rule out the possibility that it might have been a revenge killing.
“We’re not saying it’s a hate crime and we’re not saying it isn’t,” Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick said. “We just don’t know yet.”
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In San Gabriel, Calif., where Adelal Karas, 48, an Egyptian Christian was fatally shot at the International Market on Saturday, police said the family suspected an ethnic motivation. But police said the open cash register drawer indicated a robbery.