A 19-year-old Washington man has been charged for first degree murder in a murder the victim’s parents say was motivated by racial hatred.

22-year-old engineering student Gagandeep Singh was stabbed to death Monday in Kootenai, Idaho. Singh, who was a part time taxi driver, picked up Jacob Corban Coleman up from Spokane International Airport in Washington State.

Coleman had recently traveled to Washington with the assumption that he would matriculate at Gonzaga University. However, the university turned him away because there was no record of enrollment.

Enraged, Coleman called for a taxi, driven by Gagandeep Singh, to drop him off at a supposed friends house in Bonner County, Idaho.

Over the course of the trip, Singh realized that Coleman did not have any concrete destination, but was rather just killing time. When he stopped the car, police say an already unstable Colman proceeded to stab, and eventually kill him.

The Independent reports that members of his family blame the current government for “showing exit doors to asians”, and that “victims of racial hatred are exacerbated by the Trump administration”.



Sensing Singh’s anxiousness on the phone, his mother and brother had kept in constant contact with him during the trip. Suspicion arose when he dropped off the grid and failed to respond to their concerned phone calls and messages. Eventually, they thought it best to call the police. Once his location was traced to a gas station, the family visited with flowers to commemorate their lossed loved one.

After being arrested, police say Coleman admitted that he had “become homicidal and bought a knife” at a store he asked Singh to stop at, according to KREM.

It was later affirmed by Gonzaga via an official statement that Coleman had never even submitted an application to the university.

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