A trailblazing Indian-American Sikh police officer, who made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job, has been shot and killed in an “ambush-style” attack in a “ruthless, cold-blooded way” in the US State of Texas, a senior official said on Saturday.
Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s office and its first Sikh deputy, was shot while conducting a mid-day traffic stop in Houston on Friday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
The officer said Dhaliwal, 42, was taken by helicopter to a hospital where he died, a decade after becoming the force’s first Sikh and pushing for a historic expansion of religious rights in the department.
“I’m sad to share with you that we’ve lost one of our own. Our HCSO Texas was unable to recover from his injuries. There are no words to convey our sadness,” Gonzalez said in a tweet.
