The Sacramento area has a fast-growing Russian/Slavic immigrant community, the vast majority of which is Christian fundamentalist, and often aggressively so.

In the past two years, conflicts have erupted at local high schools where designated days of silence to support gay people have been met with homophobic protest from this fundamentalist Christian immigrant community.

Given this recent history, what happened Sunday was just a matter of time:

On Tuesday, Sacramento County sheriff's homicide detectives assumed control of an investigation into the assault, which apparently stemmed from a daylong verbal dispute between two groups... ..."If, through the course of the investigation, it is determined that the motivation was race or sexual preference, obviously hate crime charges will be added," [Sheriff's spokesman] Curran said. He confirmed, however, that state parks investigators reported to sheriff's officials that racial and homophobic slurs had been used against Singh and his friends. Singh had been with six people -- all of Indian or Fijian descent -- at the picnic area near Lake Natoma on Sunday afternoon when trouble began brewing with another group partying nearby, said two friends who were there that day. The Bee is not identifying the friends because they fear retribution. The two friends said the other group -- identified by the witnesses and sheriff's officials as being of Russian descent -- called Singh and his friends racial and homophobic names. Friends said Singh is not gay, but they believe he was singled out because he did not have a date that afternoon... ...Though initially knocked unconscious by the impact, Singh regained consciousness at the park but had difficulty breathing. His condition worsened, and he again lost consciousness that night. By Tuesday, he was not expected to survive.

I will update if I hear confirmation that Singh has been taken off life support.

Happy Fourth of July.

UPDATE: Some non-Sacramentan readers might understandably need the context for my implied assertion that these Russian assailants are likely linked to Sacramento's fundamentalist Russian immigrant community. With help from ChapiNation386, here's some context:

Militant Slavic Christians threaten progress on gay rights in California

LA Times: For Gays, a Loud New Foe

The Political Coming -Out of Sacramento's Slavic Community

No one has yet been arrested or charged, so a note of caution should prevail until more facts are in.

UPDATE II: According to a local TV news story, Singh was openly gay. He was also standing up for his friends when he was attacked.