Balbir Singh Sodhi , a gas station owner , was killed on September 15 , 2001 due to being mistaken for a Muslim . In a 2011 report to the United States Senate , the Southern Poverty Law Center reported several assaults and incidents of arson at Sikh temples after September 11 . All were labeled as hate crimes that resulted from the perpetrators ' misconceptions that their targets were Muslim . In August 2012 , a Sikh temple in Oak Creek , Wisconsin was the site of a shooting , leading to 6 Sikh individuals being killed . On May 7 , 2013 , an elderly Sikh man was attacked with an iron bar in Fresno , California in a possible hate crime . On September 21 , 2013 , Prabhjot Singh , a Sikh professor was attacked in Harlem , New York by a group of 20-30 men who branded him as " Osama " and Terrorist "
site of a shooting
Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting
Sikhism in the United States