Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi

Roque died on May 11, 2022, while in Arizona Department of Corrections custody. He died at the age of 62.

On July 19, 2005, Roque was found guilty of an unspecified conspiracy charge while in prison, specified only as a violent crime. On February 27, 2006, he was found guilty of having manufactured a primitive weapon in prison three days earlier. In August 2006, the Arizona Supreme Court changed Roque's death sentence to a sentence of life in prison without parole, citing his low IQ and mental illness as mitigating factors. The trial was aired by Court TV in a five-part series.

Roque's trial by jury began on August 18, 2003. Defense attorneys argued he was not guilty due to insanity, claiming that he had a diminished IQ and heard relentless voices telling him that Arabs were Satanic and must be killed. Two coworkers testified that Roque was "narrow-minded" and that he hated both immigrants and Arabs. Roque's defense attorney characterized him as mentally ill, and noted that his mother had twice been hospitalized for schizophrenia, a condition which has been shown to appear in those genetically predisposed to it. On September 30, 2003, he was found guilty of first degree murder, and was sentenced to death nine days later.

On August 4, 2002, less than a year after Balbir's death, his younger brother Sukhpal was shot to death while driving his taxicab in San Francisco, apparently killed by a stray bullet from a nearby gang fight. In response to this second tragedy, Balbir's son said, "What are you going to do with anger? We like peace and we are peaceful people."

Balbir Singh Sodhi (1949 – September 15, 2001), a Sikh-American entrepreneur and franchisee in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered in a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This was the first of several cases across the United States that were reported to the police as supposed acts of retaliation for the attacks. Balbir Singh Sodhi, who had a beard and wore a turban in accordance with his Sikh faith, was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque (July 8, 1959 – May 11, 2022), a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California. Roque had reportedly told friends that he was "going to go out and shoot some towel-heads" the day of the attacks. Roque was sentenced to death (commuted later to life imprisonment) for first degree murder. He died in prison on May 11, 2022.

On September 11, 2001, members of al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist group, hijacked four airplanes and perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, killing 2,977 victims. According to family members, Sodhi had become distraught by the attacks.

On September 15, 2001, Roque took his Chevrolet S-10 from the Wild Hare sports bar in Mesa, where he had reportedly been ranting about immigrants, and drove to the Chevron gas station owned by Sodhi. Roque shot Sodhi five times from his truck with a .380 handgun, killing him. At the time of the shooting, Sodhi was helping landscaper Luis Ledesma plant flowers in order to commemorate the lives of those lost in the 9/11 attacks around the edge of his gas station. Roque, who apparently wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks, racially profiled him as an Arab Muslim because of the clothes he wore, his turban, and his beard.

Born in Punjab, India, Balbir Singh Sodhi was a member of the Sikh religion. He was also a husband, and father to three sons. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 and initially resided in Los Angeles, where he worked as a computer engineer and analyst at HP. He saved enough money to buy a gas station and several affiliated franchises in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved there. Sodhi's gas station had been running for just a year prior leading to his murder and in that time he had become known amongst the community as a generous and kind man who often gave free candy to children who came in.