US: Indian woman killed, cousin injured after Punjab teen opens fire

A WOMAN from India was killed while another was critically injured after a teenage Indian-origin man shot them outside a residential building in Carteret, a borough in New Jersey, US.

The accused, Gaurav Gill, was arrested for the murder of Jasvir Kaur, 29. While she succumbed to the bullet injuries at a hospital, her 20-year-old cousin Gagandeep Kaur was in critical condition at University Hospital in Newark.

The incident happened in the morning of June 12 and Gill was caught hours after the crime, CBS News reported.

The two women were airlifted to the hospital after they were shot in front of a driveway on Roosevelt Avenue, the report added. One eyewitness said "they weren't really moving".

The Indian consulate general in New York posted on X about the matter on Friday (14), saying, “Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic demise of Ms Jasvir Kaur and injuries to Ms Gagandeep Kaur in a shooting on Roosevelt Av, Carteret, New Jersey. We offer our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased."

It was learnt that Gill was from Hussainpur village in Jalandhar district of the northern Indian state of Punjab and he was arrested on charges of murder and attempt to murder. He reportedly knew Gagandeep since he took training for International English Language Testing System in his home state.

The deceased was from Gorsian near Nurmahal, a small city in India's Punjab, and had been hosting her cousin, who went to the US for studying, at her home in New Jersey. She worked at the Amazon facility in Carteret and her husband, who drives a lorry, was out at the time of the incident, reported local media reports in the US.

The authorities did not immediately disclose the motive behind the murder.

Kewal Singh, father of Jasvir, said they learned about the tragedy only on Friday (14) after none of the two women responded to their phone calls, Hindustan Times reported. Jasvir's husband briefed them about the incident. The family has sought a deep probe into the matter and stringent punishment for the culprit.

Gill, whose father lives in Muscat in Oman, faces several charges, including one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He appeared before a judge in Middlesex County Court on Thursday (13) and it was brief, US media reports said.

The accused will be produced again in court on Tuesday (18) for a detention hearing.