Police kill knife-wielding Sikh at Ohio gurdwara - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A Sikh man, who brandished a meat cleaver at an Ohio gurdwara was killed by the police after refusing to drop the weapon. Ravinder Nijjar, 41, entered the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Bedford shortly before 4:30 a.m. wielding the cleave10 to 12 inches long. Worried members called the police for help. Police do not believe Ravinder had a religious motive for his behaviour at the temple, where he worshipped, Police Chief Greg Duber said. The two men preparing to pray fled and returned with officers, who were confronted within a minute by the man, again with the cleaver raised, the chief said. He kept moving toward officers and was shot, the Daily Express reports. Nijjar was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge in 2008, the chief said. He was referred while in jail for a mental health consultation, Duber said. The chief did not know the outcome of that consultation. Nijjar never showed up for his court date and was arrested on a warrant in late 2008 when police answered a call about a fight at his apartment building, the chief said. There is no court record of how the case was resolved, and the chief did not know. Surinder Singh, temple secretary, said he doubted Nijjar had a gripe with anyone in the close-knit congregation. "I don't see any reason why he would harm somebody," Singh said. A 2004 feud among temple members led to fistfights and brought police to the location 11 times in nine months. Factions disagreed over how to run the temple and whether leaders should wear beards and turbans. The dispute was settled in the courts, and there have not been flareups, the chief said.