Suspect charged with attempted murder in stabbing of Sikh truck driver in Wyoming

South Asian leaders link attack to deleted DHS post depicting Sikh driver

A Sikh truck driver, identified only by his last name Singh for security reasons, survived being beaten then stabbed 17 times at the Bitter Creek rest area off a Wyoming highway on Sunday, according to news reports.

The driver told NPR he did not know why the attack happened, and told the Sacramento Bee that “I thought that now my final time had come.” His lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.

The suspected assailant, Andrew Kris Bzdak, fled the scene before Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers arrested him, the Sacramento Bee reported. Bzdak has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and, as of Friday, was being held at the Sweetwater County detention center on $1 million bail, according to an inmate roster.

The motive for the attack remains unknown, Jeff Sheaman, a public information officer for the Sweetwater County sheriff’s office, said. A Good Samaritan family attempted to pursue the attacker and brought Singh towels as blood seeped from his wounds, the Bee reported.

Several prominent South Asian civic and political figures have drawn a link between Sunday’s events and a controversial Department of Homeland Security social media post depicting a Sikh driver.

In a since-deleted post to X, DHS officials shared a movie-poster-style image of a man with a bandana facing a Transformer from the popular toy and movie franchise, with the words “Self deport or Find Out.” At the bottom of the image was the line: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh.”

DHS officials responded to criticism that the post was xenophobic by saying it was a pointed reference to an Indian-descent truck driver who was accused of making an illegal turn before crashing an 18-wheeler into a minivan, killing its occupants.

Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said in a Thursday post on social media that he was praying for the recovery of the truck driver.

“This comes amid rising hatred targeting Sikh and South Asian Americans, with even the Trump Department of Homeland Security recently posting a racist caricature of a Sikh truck driver,” Krishnamoorthi wrote. “Those spreading this hate, including officials in our own federal government, need to stop. Those who turn it into violence must be held accountable. And all of us need to stand together against both.”

In response to a request for comment about the Wyoming attack, DHS told NPR: “Any attempt to blame DHS for an unrelated attack is RECKLESS and FALSE.”