Update: St. Louis Hindu Temple Twice Vandalized, Suspects Apprehended

March 24, 2003

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On March 24, 2003 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that "[Thomas] Laird is the father of Paul Laird, one of two teens charged hours before with felonies in attacks on the temple that had left the faithful and the police trying to figure out what anybody had against Hindus... It was nothing personal, Laird told [Jiwan Singla, a member of the temple], blaming the effects of alcohol - not religious hatred - for driving his son and friend Nathaniel Conner. The elder Laird apologized, and left the building sobbing... 'There is no reason for him (Paul Laird) to have any animosity toward the Hindu temple,' Thomas Laird said in an interview earlier Monday."