US Sikh family murder suspect terrorised, robbed another family 17 years ago
San Francisco (PTI): The man involved in the kidnapping and killing of the Indian-origin Sikh family in California, including an eight-month-old baby girl, was previously also jailed for robbery after he held a family he had then worked for at gunpoint and terrorised them 17 years ago.
Jesus Salgado, who was arrested on Thursday on the suspicion of kidnapping and killing the Sikh family of four, 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri, her 27-year-old mother Jasleen Kaur, her 36-year-old father Jasdeep Singh, and her 39-year-old uncle Amandeep Singh, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2007 and was released in 2015 and discharged from parole three years later, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
He also has a conviction for possession of a controlled substance, the department said.
Nearly two decades ago, Salgado worked for a family, which also owned a trucking company, but was fired in 2004 because the family suspected him of stealing money, members of the family told the Los Angeles Times.
Kathy and her daughter Katrina when first saw surveillance images of Salgado, they did not immediately recognise him. Salgado, now 48, had aged significantly, and Kathy and Katrina weren't sure he was the man who robbed them at gunpoint in their dark garage 17 years ago.
They noticed the methods in the two crimes seemed eerily similar: terrorise a family on their property at gunpoint and force them to follow orders under the threat of death.
On the night of December 19, 2005, he showed up at their home wearing a mask and held a gun to the father's head and bounded his hands with duct tape, recalled his daughter Katrina, who was 16 years old at the time
Salgado rounded up the family, as well as a friend of Katrina's who was visiting, and took them to the garage, where the family kept a safe with cash and jewelry, she and her mother, Kathy, said.
After robbing them, even taking Kathy's wedding ring, Salgado then led the family to the pool in the backyard and made them jump in as he escaped, Kathy and Katrina recalled. He was caught just a few days later after the family reported him to the police.
Salgado was convicted in early 2007 of home invasion robbery with a gun, attempted false imprisonment and witness intimidation, Merced County prosecutors said. He served nearly 10 years in prison before getting paroled in 2015.
Video surveillance this week showed that, as with Kathy and Katrina's family, the suspect in Monday's kidnapping held the Singh family at gunpoint, binding the men's arms but not Japanners Kurtas.
On Tuesday morning, Merced County sheriff's detectives learned that a bank card belonging to one of the victims was used at a bank ATM in the nearby town of Atwater.
After reviewing surveillance video from the bank, investigators believed the person making the transaction resembled a man photographed by security cameras at the site of the kidnapping, authorities said.
Salgado was identified as a person of interest in the investigation and prior to law enforcement involvement attempted to take his own life, the Sheriff's Office said in a statement. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Salgado was jailed on suspicion of kidnapping and murder on Thursday, after being released from the hospital.
On Friday Salgado's younger brother, Alberto Salgado was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and destroying evidence.
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive, but Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said he believes it could relate to money, adding there was no evidence to suggest the incident may have been a hate crime.
Salgado was a former employee of the family who had a longstanding dispute with them that "got pretty nasty," authorities said Thursday.
The bodies of the four victims originally from Harsi Pind in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, were found Wednesday in a remote area near the town of Dos Palos, California, about 50 km south of Merced, California.
Merced County Sheriff Warnke did not share the condition of the adults' remains and said it was unclear how the baby died. He said the child had no visible trauma and an autopsy will be conducted.
Warnke said he believes the family was killed within an hour of the Monday morning kidnapping.
Jaspreet Kaur, Amandeep's widow, said in a GoFundMe fundraiser that her husband and his brother had been in the United States for 18 years and supported not only their families in California but also their elderly parents back in India.
This is the story of our shared American dream gone wrong, she wrote. Our loving family was violently taken away from us on October 3rd, the family's gofundme page said.
Kaur said her husband routinely donated food to the local food bank and never missed Sunday service in the local Sikh temple. They had a 9-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.
The family's gofundme page said the two brothers were "the primary bread earners for the family (and) supported their elderly parents."
The sheriff has said said he hopes the district attorney pursues the death penalty in the case.
There's a special place in hell for the suspect, Warnke said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
