SALT LAKE CITY — Chaman Lal was working at the 7-Eleven on 200 South in Salt Lake City with his brother, Shyam, when he stepped outside and heard a gunshot come from inside the store.
“When I saw him, he was in the floor, and blood coming out from his stomach,” said Chaman.
When he saw what happened, he felt concerned and confused.
“These monster people come then shoot him without any reason,” said Chaman. “They didn't say anything to him, just shoot him.”
Salt Lake City Police recently arrested a 24-year-old man for the shooting. He’s charged with aggravated robbery, felony discharge of a firearm and a parole violation.
“This was an incident that caught a lot of us by surprise,” said SLCPD spokesman Brent Weisberg. “Just the brazenness of this act.”
Weisberg said that despite the city seeing a 10 percent decrease in violent crime in 2023, these types of incidents don’t make people feel safe.
“We try to do that in every case, to answer that, ‘Why did this crime happen?’ because we know it affects the victim, it affects our community,” he said. “We want to ask for that closure whenever possible.”
Chaman said Shyam had just migrated from India and had only been in the U.S. for about 20 days when this happened on the evening of Christmas Day.
“I was happy — my brother, he's here,” he said. “His life is safe here. But I don't know. His life is no safer.”
Shyam has already had four surgeries and has more scheduled. The Lal family is raising money to cover medical expenses and plane tickets for his family members to come see him.
You can donate to the GoFundMe here.
