Gurdwara shooting: Donations creating friction

A month after the tragic gurdwara shooting shook Wisconsin's peaceful Sikh community, officials at the Sikh temple are trying to figure out ways to fairly distribute the hundreds of thousands of dollars they received in donations among families of the victims without causing any friction.

The August 5 shooting, in which six members of the Sikh community were killed, led to an outpouring of support from across the US as well as around the world.

The community received nearly USD 500,000 to 600,000 in donations and now officials at the gurdwara want the money to be fairly distributed among those affected by the tragic incident, a report in ABC News said.

However, the officials are yet to decide if all families get equal amounts or whether the money goes to only families of those injured or killed.

Officials also face the question of whether the money should be shared with those who were in the temple at the time of the shooting and suffered emotional trauma by the incident.

"You never really know what will happen when there's money involved, but we're doing our best to safeguard against any problems," Amardeep Kaleka, who lost his father in the

shooting rampage, said.

"The community has already suffered. If there's any in-fighting there will only be more suffering".

Arguments over how the relief money, collected after shootings in Colorado and at Virginia Tech, should be distributed among victims' families had raised tensions and the Sikh leaders are relying on an outside expert to figure out the fairest way to share the funds.

Last week, relatives of some of the Colorado theater shooting victims lashed out after families of the victims were given only USD 5000 each out of the more than five million dollars collected.

After the Virginia Tech shooting, two family members who lost loved ones sued over how the money was distributed.

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