Marcos Bretón: Fatal attack leaves much unanswered

We don't know the whole story.

That's what happens when the suspect in a killing runs away, and when one side of a horrible story remains murky.

It morphs into what we have in Sacramento now: A manhunt in which the FBI is helping local authorities chase a suspect abroad, while ugliness festers back home.

All because men got in an argument at a public beach, one man threw a punch, one man died from the punch, the suspects fled and recriminations rushed in.

We know Satender Singh is dead and has been since July 5, four days after he was punched at Lake Natoma.

We know the lead suspect identified by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department is Andrey Vusik, a 29-year-old West Sacramento man believed to be in Russia.

We believe Singh's killing may have been a hate crime, may have been fueled by the perception he was gay.

But the key word in that is may have been a hate crime. We don't know for certain it was a hate crime.

We won't know until Vusik is arrested or turns himself in -- and until authorities assemble a case they can prove in court.

In the meantime, this tragedy has become about rhetoric, about suspicions between groups of people over healing in a diverse community.

Why write about the Singh case again?

Because now is the time for moderate voices to step forward. Now is the time for the rhetoric in the Singh case to be dialed down.

In that spirit, it should be stated that the suspect in this case is from Sacramento's Slavic community -- but the entire Slavic community is not suspect.

It should be stated that there were escalating tensions between some Slavic Christians and Sacramento's gay community before Singh was killed -- but the entire Slavic Christian community is not on trial. And neither is the Christian faith. Any suggestions to the contrary are simply inaccurate, a reflection of the fear and anger that have risen as justice has been delayed.

However, we shouldn't forget that long before Singh was killed, leaders in Sacramento's gay community had expressed fears about incendiary language used by some Slavic Christians in anti-gay protests around town -- fears that violence would follow.

When Singh was killed, they believe, those worst fears were realized.

Again -- we don't know if the words of some Slavic Christians created an atmosphere that led to violence.

In interviews with The Bee, members of Vusik's family said they are not affiliated with any anti-gay groups.

"We just got in the confrontation between the churches and the gay community," Vusik's wife, Tatyana, said in a recent interview. "What happened was a tragic accident and had nothing to do with gays."

Sheriff's investigators said "Russian-speaking" men had exchanged insults with Singh and a group of his friends for hours before a punch was thrown that caused Singh to fall backward and rupture his brain stem.

You wish the people involved had just walked away long before the situation grew violent. You wish a month hadn't passed before Slavic church leaders condemned Singh's killing, expressed condolences to his family.

You wish Vusik would turn himself in, so this case would become about achieving justice.

About the writer:

• Reach Marcos Breton at (916) 321-1096 or mbreton@sacbee.com. Listen to him at 8:40 a.m. Tuesdays on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/breton.