Amandeep Dhami booking photo
SACRAMENTO — An Elk Grove man who goes by “Mista Killafornia” on social media and boasted of his crimes in rhyme was sentenced to 82 years to life in prison on Friday, January 22, for the shooting at a Sacramento Sikh temple more than 5 years ago.
Amandeep Singh Dhami, 26, was charged with the fatal shooting of Parmjit Pamma Singh, 26, and wounding Sahibjeet Singh on August 31, 2008 at a sports festival at a temple on Bradshaw Road in broad daylight.
Dhami fled the country to India following the shooting and was able to elude authorities. He was located and arrested there in 2014 and extradited to California to face second-degree murder and attempted murder charges. A jury convicted Dhami of these charges on June 17, 2015.
According to prosecutors, who described the Dhami as a low-level violent gangster who was “armed for war,” said he and another man, Gurpreet Gosal, went looking for Singh and his friends at the festival with the intention of payback for a tussle with members of Singh’s crew at a San Jose nightclub just days earlier.
Dhami and Gosal had flown into Sacramento the day before the shooting armed with three handguns and approximately 250 rounds of ammunition. The fight has been a long-standing feud between the two rival groups.
Dhami told the court that he and Gosal had gone to the festival in an attempt to mend fences with Singh, but were armed in case they were ambushed. He said he envisioned a meeting of “two gangsters who could work things out.”
For his part, Gosal is serving 25 years to life for second degree murder. He, like Dhami, had fled following the shooting, but was quickly captured.
