Background
Born in Punjab, India, Balbir Singh Sodhi was a member of the Sikh religion. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 and initially resided in Los Angeles, where he worked as a taxicab driver. He later relocated to San Francisco, where he continued to work in that capacity. He saved enough money to buy a gas station in Phoenix, Arizona and moved there.
On September 11, 2001, members of al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist group, hijacked four airplanes and used them as suicide weapons. Nearly 3,000 were killed. According to family members, Singh Sodhi had been distraught because of the terrorist attacks.
Frank Silva Roque was a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility. Roque held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California, and had reportedly told friends and a waitress at a local Applebee's restaurant that he was "going to go out and shoot some towel-heads" the day of the attacks.
Read more about this topic: Murder Of Balbir Singh Sodhi
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