Richmond Sikh slayings stump police
By Karl Fischer and Kimberly S. Wetzel
Article Launched: 12/29/2007 02:59:15 AM PST
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• Paramjit Kalsi
• Ravinder Kalsi
RICHMOND - Two men shuffled down San Pablo Avenue on a wet December night. They passed a burger joint and doughnut shop before pausing at the door to Sahib Indian Restaurant.
One banged on the window. "You open?" he mouthed to the man inside.
It was a few minutes past 9 on Thursday night. Ravinder Kalsi, who owned the place with his brother, had locked up minutes earlier. Perhaps hoping to hear better, he turned the lock.
Opening the door became his last act in life. The killers shot the 30-year-old dead in the doorway. They stepped past him and moved quickly. They touched nothing, said nothing. They found 42-year-old Paramjit Kalsi in the kitchen and shot him.
"It does not look like a robbery. It looks like these two guys went in there to kill," Richmond Detective Sgt. Mitch Peixoto said Friday morning. "That's what worries me. Why?"
The cryptic deaths of two prominent restaurateurs left the East Bay's substantial Sikh community scratching for explanations, as Richmond police reviewed surveillance camera footage and looked for witnesses.
The Kalsis became the first of four homicide victims reported in Richmond within 24 hours, making this month the city's most lethal in more than a decade and pushing its annual homicide total to 47 -- highest since the early 1990s. Nothing about the Kalsis made them obvious targets, friends said Friday. They had owned the strip mall restaurant between Nevin and Barrett avenues for about five years and remodeled residential property on the side.
"We are shocked, in shock," said Tehal Singh, an in-law of one of the victims. "They were young men, very gentle."
Their family hails from Punjab in India, where they sent money, particularly for a disabled sister. A friend and former roommate called them kind, hard-working people who went out of their way to avoid confrontation. They were very close and spent their little spare time at the Sikh temple in El Sobrante.
"They were totally pure guys, not in a fanatical way, just really hard-working," friend Gurman Bal said. "They were very spiritual. They listened to Indian religious music, watched religious TV. They knew their path, and they stayed on it." Bal knew the brothers for almost a decade. The pair shared a room in his Berkeley home for about five years before moving to Richmond. They did not drink alcohol or eat meat and were quick to help around the house after long hours at construction sites.
"They would work a full day, about 12 hours, then they would ask me if there was anything they could do for me," Bal said. "That's the kind of people they were; they didn't take any handouts."
A witness dialed 911 at 9:14 p.m. Thursday. The gunmen walked or ran south on San Pablo Avenue after the attack. A canine officer passing on his way to work arrived at the crime scene almost immediately after hearing the call but did not see the shooters.
His dog tracked a scent as far south as Key Boulevard in El Cerrito, police said.
Detectives found little more inside the restaurant. The attackers did not disturb the cash register and took nothing, making a common motive for violent crime in the commercial strip along the Richmond-El Cerrito border unlikely. Businesses there frequently face robbers, sometimes with tragic results. In April, another San Pablo Avenue restaurateur, Alfredo Figueroa, died after resisting a takeover robbery at the Red Onion diner. El Cerrito police are still investigating that case. The Kalsis took over the Sahib Indian Restaurant in 2002 and often worked seven days a week. At one point, they lived in the restaurant to save money, Bal said. They also owned at least two residential properties in the area, which they renovated in hopes of selling for a profit.
"They would repair homes. They were extremely hard-working. They were particularly known for their tile work," said Richmond City Councilman Harpreet Sandhu, also a leader in the local Sikh community. "They had recently been granted permanent residency here."
But money was tight, and they were planning to sell the restaurant, police said.
Sikh leaders say they are working to arrange shipment of the bodies back to India, or to bring a family member to the United States for release. The family took it hard, Sandhu said, particularly Ravi's fiancee. Ravi returned to Punjab about two months ago for the engagement, and the business was on the market so he could get married in India, Sandhu said.
"It's terrible," said J.P. Singh, past president of the Sikh temple. "There's too much of that going on in Richmond."
Bal organized a Friday night vigil in front of the restaurant. "The main thing is to not let their deaths disappear into the void," Bal said. Bal fears the killings could be a hate crime. Police say there is no clear evidence of a hate crime but say they will investigate all possibilities. "We don't know yet, but going on what we've read in the paper, if they didn't even attempt to get into the register, it tells me there's something going on here," Bal said. "Just from the facts, it looks like they were targeted for who they are. It was a hate crime." "They were trusting," he added, "and that's why they opened that damn door."
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@bayareanewsgroup.com. Reach Kimberly S. Wetzel at 510-262-2798 or kwetzel@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Richmond police ask anyone with information about the restaurant homicide to call Detective Nicole Abetkov at 510-412-2081.
Callers also can use the department's anonymous tip line at 510-232-TIPS (8477).
Varinder Singh adds from Patiala:
PATIALA: The family of the deceased in Model Town here was informed about the incident by their relatives in the USA. “What shocked us was a phone call from our relatives in the US who said Vicky, a nephew of the Kalsi brothers, was survived by five brothers and two sisters.
“We are shattered. My sons had no animosity with anybody in the USA or in India. We don’t know who could have been behind this crime against our innocent family,” said Gurbachan Kaur, the inconsolable mother of the deceased. Surinder Singh, a brother of the deceased, said the family was shocked and confounded over the crime particularly when his brothers had not offended anybody in the USA at any point of time.
In a suspected hate crime, a Patiala family lost two of its sons in a shootout at a restaurant, they owned, in South Richmond of Virginia state in the US on Thursday.
The Richmond police are, however, clueless about the motive behind the crime and said there was no clear evidence of a hate crime. The police said they were ‘‘investigating all possibilities.’’ Significantly, the attackers did not take money or valuables from the restaurant.
