Police, FBI Investigating Possible Hate Crime at Khalsa Gurmat Center in Federal Way, Washington
- The main Divaan hall (prayer area) of the gurudwara was badly damaged, control panels were destroyed, windows were broken, alarms were disabled, and several computers and TV monitors were stolen.
Police and FBI are investigating after a gurudwara in Federal Way, Washington, was burglarized on Sept. 17. A suspect broke into the Khalsa Gurmat Center, “smashed a glass door, damaged several areas and items inside the center, and stole several computers and TVs,” Cmdr. Kurt Schwan of Federal Way Police told the Federal Way Mirror. The police are investigating all possible motives, including the possibility that bias could have been a motivating factor in this incident.
The main Divaan hall (prayer area) of the gurudwara was badly damaged, control panels were destroyed, and windows were broken, according to a Facebook post by the Khalsa Gurmat Center. “The alarms were disabled by destroying the circuitry. They also stole several computers and TV monitors on their way out of the building. Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s Swaroop was not in the building at the time of the incident,” the post said. The damage was discovered the next morning by sewadaars (volunteers) arriving to begin cooking langar and prepare for the weekend classes and services.
A male suspect was captured on video surveillance. The Federal Way Mirror reported that the King County Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), is assisting the police in their investigation.
Jasmit Singh, a prominent member of the Sikh American community in Washington, told The Seattle Times that the incident has “really shaken us up as a community.” No one could have imagined “something like this could happen in the community center,” he said.
About 200 to 250 families regularly attend the center for prayers and educational programming, Singh said.
Singh told The Seattle Times that volunteers cleaned up the center, and it was open the following day. “It’s not like the community is scared, but it’s definitely something the community is rallying together on,” he said. “We know these challenges, when they come, the community finds a way to come out of it.”
The Sikh Coalition, a national advocacy group founded in the wake of hate crimes after 9/11, condemned the act. “Based on video surveillance, it is clear that the suspect willfully and maliciously vandalized this place of importance to the local Sikh community,” read a statement issued by Sikh Coalition Legal Director Amrith Kaur Aakre.
According to the coalition, about 60,000 to 75,000 Sikhs live in Washington, and worship in one of the 15 gurudwaras in the state. Per its monitoring of public media accounts, hate crimes reported to law enforcement, and private reporting since 2015, the coalition estimates that “Washington is the third most dangerous state in the nation for Sikhs despite the community’s presence in the area for more than 125 years.” In December of 2019, a Sikh Uber driver in Bellingham was berated and strangled by a customer; the assailant was later charged with assault in the second degree and a hate crime.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help the Khalsa Gurmat Center with repair costs and to make the facility more secure. So far, the fundraiser has collected $13,776 of a $50,000 goal.
(Photos, courtesy, Khalsa Gurmat Center)