Updated September 18, 2026 at 5:27 PM EDT
A Punjabi Sikh truck driver in Wyoming said he was followed into a rest stop bathroom and stabbed repeatedly in an attack that has stoked fear across the greater South Asian community.
In an interview with NPR, the driver Singh said he was shaken by the violent encounter from earlier this week, which he described as unprovoked. Singh asked to only be identified by his last name due to fear for his safety.
" I don't know why this happened," he said from his hospital room. "I don't know why they attack[ed] me.
Early Sunday morning, on his way to Pennsylvania, Singh said he parked at a rest area in south Wyoming to use the bathroom. He added that he had visited the rest stop in the past without any problems.
As he walked inside, Singh said he sensed another man following behind him. Moments later, Singh said the man began to beat him before pulling out what he says was a knife and stabbing him repeatedly. The attacker then fled and Singh stepped outside before collapsing onto the pavement, he recalled.
Singh added that his life was saved by a Hispanic family, who just so happened to be at the rest area. He said the family tried to attend to his wounds and seek help.
" They [gave] me the second life," he said
According to court documents obtained by NPR, witnesses described the suspect as a white male who also drove a truck. The documents added that Singh sustained 17 lacerations, including to his neck and chest.
Local law enforcement have since arrested Andrew Kris Bzdak and charged him with attempted first-degree murder. His bail was set at $1 million. The court documents did not state a motive. Efforts to reach Bzdak for comment were not immediately successful.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office and the local prosecutor did not respond to requests for additional information.
The attack in Wyoming comes amid a significant national rise in hateful rhetoric targeting South Asians. Sikh Americans, in particular, have been a target of the Trump administration's crackdown on noncitizen truck drivers.
A recent example came last week when the Department of Homeland Security posted an image on social media depicting a Sikh man with the words "Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr. Singh."
In a statement, DHS told NPR that the image depicted Harjinder Singh, an Indian immigrant and truck driver who was accused of making an illegal U-turn and causing a fatal crash in Florida last year.
"Harjinder Singh is an illegal alien from India who should never have been in our country," DHS said in its statement.
The post was removed from social media the next day, following swift backlash from political leaders and advocacy groups that criticized the image as racist and dehumanizing to an entire community of people with the last name Singh, which is common among people practicing the Sikh religion.
"The Sheriff's Office has said there is no known motive at this time, but we cannot separate this incident from the climate in which it happened," said Jasjit Singh, an attorney and director of legal services at the Jakara Movement, a California-based organization that serves the Punjabi Sikh community and has been providing support to the victim.
"When our own federal government uses a Sikh name and image to tell people like us that they do not belong on America's roads, our community has every reason to be concerned about the environment that kind of rhetoric creates," he added. Jasjit Singh recently visited the Wyoming victim in person.
The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is a Democrat, said his thoughts were with the victim, who is from Sacramento, and condemned the Trump administration.
"The President's now redacted social media post is one proof point — his hateful rhetoric is hurting our communities," his office said in a statement.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) has also spoken out about the attack and called for an end to the spread of hate, including by federal officials.
"America must be better than this," he said in a statement.
When asked about the Wyoming attack, DHS said the agency will not speculate on motives, adding, "Any attempt to blame DHS for an unrelated attack is RECKLESS and FALSE."
Between January 2023 and December 2025, slurs used online against South Asians rose by 109%, according to Stop AAPI Hate, which tracks hate acts against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
In a report published this month, the group found that the rise in anti-South Asian rhetoric was fueled by the Florida truck crash, President Trump's re-election, debates over H-1B visas, and Zohran Mamdani's New York City mayoral campaign.
Raman Dhillon, the head of the North American Punjabi Trucking Association, said since the attack, truck drivers have reached out to him with concerns about their own safety.
"It's on everybody's mind," he said. "We never thought in this country that we will ever gonna think about things like this."
Singh, who has been a truck driver for three years, said he was aware of the rhetoric targeting his community. Although it worried him, Singh said it didn't stop him from working because he needed the income.
As he recovers in the hospital, Singh said he was stressed about medical bills and missing days of work.
"I am scared and also upset because I have [to] work regularly" he said.
Singh added that he was also fearful for other Sikh truck drivers. " I am just worried … it can happen again," he said.
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