US war veteran cremated with military honours - The Lodi police had shot him dead near his house on January 26
Monday, 10/02/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140210/punjab.htm#15
Sacramento/California :The funeral of Gulf War veteran Parminder Singh Shergill, whom the police shot dead near his house on January 26, was held with full military honours today. Hundreds of members of the Sikh community gathered to mourn his death.
As a colour guard team assembled outdoors in a light rain to honour Shergill’s service to the country, family and friends demanded answers from the government. They lamented as to why a soft-spoken and law-abiding man suffered such a violent death. Shergill’s family members alleged the police killed him for no reason.
The Lodi police have already released the name of two police officers, Scott Bratton and Adam Lockie, involved in the January 26 shooting that left Shergill dead. Sources said Bratton had been with the Lodi Police Department since 2000 and Lockie since 1999.
Shergill served in the Gulf War and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. His mother had called the police, worried about her son’s mental health.
Multiple agencies, including the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, Lodi Police Department and the state Department of Justice are investigating the case.
Shergill lived with his mother and younger brother in the tidy Lodi neighborhood. Born in 1970 in Jagatpur, India, his parents brought him to America when he was five years old.
Shergill completed his schooling at Lodi High School and graduated in biochemistry from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and Sacramento State University. Thereafter, he joined the US Army. He served in Germany for two years, fought on the front lines in Iraq during the Gulf War and took part in the Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.
In 1995, he was dishonorably discharged from the Army. Thereafter, he worked as a supervisor at Pacific Coast Producers, a food production company based in Lodi. But, he couldn’t continue working there as his disability proved too disruptive.
