Victim’s samurai sword found in car after fatal Turlock shooting

Investigators found a samurai sword in Amritpal Sandhu’s car shortly after he was gunned down while driving in Turlock three years ago.

In the early hours of Nov. 6, 2013, Sandhu, 21, called 911 and told a dispatcher that someone in a black Nissan Altima had fired a gun at his car while driving on Highway 99. Sandhu said he was chasing the black car into Turlock. Moments later, Sandhu told the dispatcher he had been shot.

Sandhu was found dead in his white Infiniti sedan near Minaret Avenue and East Main Street in Turlock. His car was spotted slowly coming to a stop as it jumped a curb and struck a utility pole. The car came to a stop on the lawn of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Pardeep Singh, Kultar Singh Dhatt and Cole Nathaniel Millington are accused of murder in Sandhu’s death. A preliminary hearing for the defendants continued Friday with testimony from Turlock police Officer Mark Alberti, who heard six or seven gunshots that night and was directed to Sandhu’s crashed car.

The officer said he approached the car and spotted Sandhu in the driver’s seat, leaning back and unresponsive. He said there were bullet holes on the doors on the driver’s side, and the car’s engine was running.

“The rear wheels were still spinning,” Alberti said on the witness stand.

When medics arrived and began life-saving procedures, officers noticed a bullet fragment on top of Sandhu’s chest. The bullet fragment was collected as evidence.

Alberti testified that investigators did not find any guns or shell casings in the car or nearby. The officer said he didn’t search the car, and he doesn’t remember seeing the samurai sword as he reached in to pull Sandhu out of the vehicle. The sword was found later.

Ajaypal Sandhu, the victim’s brother, has testified that the sword was always kept in his brother’s bedroom; he never kept the sword in the car. He also testified that the sword was not in his brother’s room when investigators searched it after the deadly shooting.

Gurinderjit Samra, Sandhu’s friend, testified Friday that he never saw Sandhu with a sword such as the one found in his friend’s car.

On the witness stand, Samra described an ongoing dispute with Singh. He said Singh had repeatedly insulted him and Sandhu, which led to a confrontation in Ceres sometime before the shooting. Samra claimed that Singh challenged him before brandishing a gun.

“He was trying to initiate a fight,” Samra said with the help of a Punjabi language interpreter.

Samra testified that Singh pulled the gun from behind his back and fired a shot into the ground from 10 feet away. Samra said the bullet struck the ground in front of him, but nobody called police because he had been led to believe the dispute with Singh was over.

About a year before the Ceres shooting, Singh was in a confrontation with Samra and Sandhu in a Turlock school parking lot. Samra testified that they were in a car when they stopped at the school to confront Singh. Samra claimed that they just wanted to know why Singh was saying “rubbish” about him and his friend.

Samra explained on the witness stand: “We just wanted to ask him, what’s going on?”

The confrontation led to a shoving match in the school parking lot, Samra said, but no punches were thrown. Other people there intervened and stopped the confrontation from escalating.

During cross-examination, Samra said Sandhu was angry at Singh about the insults and what he called implied threats of violence. But he said Sandhu did not have a bad temper and did not seek revenge by hunting down Singh.

The preliminary hearing is expected to resume Jan. 4 due to the attorneys’ scheduling conflicts. At the conclusion of the hearing, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves will determine whether there is enough evidence for the defendants to stand trial. The defendants remain in custody at the county jail.

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Victim’s samurai sword found in car after fatal Turlock shooting."