Punjab Man Gurdeep Singh Shot Dead In Brooklyn While Delivering Pizza, Shooter Sought
Sneha | August 23, 2026 7:41 PM CST
A 28-year-old Indian national from Punjab was shot dead in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday night while she was delivering pizza in what police suspect may have been a road-rage incident.
The victim, identified as Gurdeep Singh, was shot in the chest on Crescent Street near Stanley Avenue in East New York shortly before 10 pm. Police said officers responding to a 911 call found Singh injured at the scene. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Surveillance footage obtained by CBS News New York showed what appeared to be two people involved in an altercation in the street before apparent gunshots were heard. One person then fell to the ground, while the other got into a car and fled.
Police have launched a manhunt for the suspected shooter, but no arrests have been made so far. Investigators spent several hours searching the area for evidence from late Friday night into Saturday morning.
A nearby resident, identified only as Sumaya, said the incident had frightened people living in the neighbourhood. “All of a sudden there's a lot of ambulance and police cars, and it was really so scary,” she said.
Another local resident, Anthony Santos, said he heard about six gunshots and initially mistook them for fireworks before seeing an ambulance arrive.
The shooting occurred in the 75th Police Precinct, which has recorded at least 28 shooting incidents this year, compared with 27 during the same period last year. A 17-year-old was also killed in a shooting at a restaurant in the precinct on Wednesday.
Who Was Gurdeep Singh?
Singh, who was working as a delivery partner in New York, was from Jabowal village in Punjab's Kapurthala district. According to his family, he travelled to the US in 2017 through what is commonly known as the ‘dunki route’, referring to irregular migration routes used to reach countries such as the US.
Singh was living in New York on a US work permit and had not visited his family in nine years. His father, Pyara Lal, said his son had taken on heavy debt to travel to the US and had faced difficulties after arriving there, NDTV reported.
Lal said Singh worked day and night in the hope of building a better life for his family.
Initial reports had suggested that the shooting may have been linked to a robbery attempt, although police have not confirmed the motive. The investigation remains ongoing.
NAPA Seeks Action
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) expressed concern over Singh's killing and urged authorities to establish the motive behind the shooting.
“Every time a young Punjabi or Sikh person is killed, a family is destroyed. We cannot allow repeated violence to become something the community simply learns to live with,” NAPA executive director Satnam Singh Chahal said, according to PTI.
NAPA also cautioned against drawing conclusions before the investigation is completed, saying the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora deserved the same protection as every other community in the US.
