New York: A 22-year-old American has been sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release for selling a stolen handgun to a teenager who used it to kill an Indian-origin Sikh grocer in 2021.
When Antonio Gianny Garcia, then 15, entered Super Grocery on February 28, 2021, and mortally shot 65-year-old Satnam Singh from Punjab. The gun was provided by Taydon Tailor Law, 22, of Ogden which was a Ruger LC9, 9mm gun.
According to the Standard Examiner, Law entered into a plea agreement with the US District Court last year and admitted to being a felon in custody of a firearm, an offence that carries a five-year prison sentence as the maximum penalty.
Law stole the Ruger and ammunition from a home where he was working, according to the US Attorney's Office. "The US Attorney's Office for the District of Utah will continue to prosecute cases where individuals illegally possess and transfer firearms putting our citizens at risk," US Attorney Trina A. Higgins, said in a statement.
Garcia, who took Law's gun, admitted guilt to two first-degree felonies in connection with the killing and is now incarcerated on two separate terms ranging from five years to life.
Punjab-born Singh immigrated to the US in 1987, and purchased the Super Grocery in 2000. The robbery and subsequent killing shook Singh's family who is survived by wife and three daughters.