Gurpreet Singh, 37, was arrested at about 2 p.m. Tuesday in Connecticut, and will be charged with four counts of aggravated murder, officials said during a news conference held this afternoon.
He is being held as a fugitive from justice in the Branford Police Department lockup pending arraignment Wednesday, the New Haven Register reported.
Credit: Bradford, Connecticut Police Department
Credit: Bradford, Connecticut Police Department
Singh was the husband of Shalinderjit Kaur, 39, one of the four victims. He was also the son-in-law of victims Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and his wife, Parmjit Kaur, 62, and the nephew of Amarjit Kaur, 58, who was Parmjit Kaur’s sister.
Police provided the update during a Tuesday afternoon news conference called 64 days after the four shooting deaths at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex.
Family member Ajaib Singh issued a statement following the arrest:
"I am Ajaib Singh, elder brother to Amarjit Kaur, younger brother to Parmjit Kaur, maternal uncle to Shalinderjit and brother-in-law to Hakikat Singh Panag.
On behalf of my broad family and friends, we are very thankful to West Chester police department for making an arrest in connection with murders of our relatives. We are also thankful to Ohio state, federal and other law enforcement agencies who participated in the investigation. We highly appreciate Sikh community of greater Cincinnati who helped police in the investigation. We have full faith in Chief (Joel) Herzog's team, and pray for murder convictions in the court."
MORE ON THE INVESTIGATION
• West Chester homicides call: ‘We have four victims, there’s no signs of life’
• Report: Slain West Chester man’s brother expected to see him this week in India
• The week in West Chester: 4 dead, community in shock, lots of unanswered questions
• 18 shots were fired, but cause of deaths still pending in West Chester Twp. quadruple homicide
Follow our reporter live for updates:
INITIAL REPORT
West Chester police have called a news conference this afternoon to talk about the April quadruple homicide in their community.
Township Trustee Lee Wong confirmed that an arrest has been made in the case. He declined to identify the suspect.
It was a graphic scene police officers relayed over their radios to dispatchers on April 28 as they discovered four family members shot to death in a West Chester Twp. apartment on Wyndtree.
Smoke came from burning food on a kitchen stove as one officer said two of the four were laying in “a good amount of blood” in the living room.
“We have four victims,” he said, “there’s no signs of life.”
Police found Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and his wife, Parmjit Kaur, 62, in their apartment at 4562 Wyndtree Drive with their daughter, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39 and Parmjit Kaur’s sister, Amarjit Kaur, 58, Sunday evening with gunshot wounds.
The West Chester Twp. community was shocked by quadruple homicide, not knowing why someone would kill four members of a family who by all accounts were beloved members of the Sikh and West Chester community.
In the frantic 911 call, a man tells dispatchers, “My wife and my family are on the ground bleeding.”
The dispatcher asks how many people are down, and the caller screams, “four, four, four.” He says the victims are bleeding from the head and he does not know if they are breathing.
The man is then heard screaming and pounding on doors for help. The dispatcher asks the caller if did anything to his family.
“No, I just got home,” he says.
Two additional 911 calls were placed by female apartment complex resident who said a man was banging on doors asking for help.
“Some guy is running around banging on all the doors saying help me,” one of the callers told the dispatcher.
About the Author
