After a Spate of Mass Shootings, Oak Creek Victims Reflect on the Year

The Takeaway

On August 5, 2012, a gunman entered a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and opened fire. He killed six people and wounded four others. The shooting came just weeks after James Holmes killed 12 people inside a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. These events would soon be followed by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults, were killed.
“How can a human come in to a elementary school and have no empathy for six- and seven-year-olds?” said Amardeep Kaleka, whose father was killed in the Sikh temple shooting. “That is extremely disturbing on so many levels.”
This week, Amardeep and his brother Pardeep Kaleka, are in Punjab, India to lay their father’s ashes in his ancestral homeland. They talk about the long journey that’s taken them from Oak Creek to India and the stops they’ve made in between to advocate for stronger gun control laws in America.

Invest in independent global news

The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!