Indian-origin girl shot in US as prank goes awry

New York, Sep 10: In a freak accident , an 18-year-old Indian-origin girl was killed in the US when she jumped out of a closet to surprise a friend, who shot her thinking she was an intruder.

Premila Lal jumped out of a closet as a harmless joke to surprise Nerrek Galley, a 21-year-old family friend. But the noise startled the friend, who grabbed a gun and shot her, her father Praveen Lal said.

The incident happened on Friday night in Longmont, Colorado, north of Denver. The teenager's death was "unintended and extremely tragic," the police said in a statement.

"The closet opened and I think she jumped and screamed and he thought it was an intruder, so he pulled the trigged," the father said.

Just before 8 pm (local time) Premila Lal showed up at a house her family once called home. They had since moved, and were preparing to sell the place.

In the meantime, Galley was staying at the house. Premila Lal and her 12-yearold cousin apparently came to visit Galley. Lal's 15-yearold brother was also there hanging out with Galley.

Praveen Lal, said in interviews with the local media that his daughter entered the home without Galley's knowledge.

"We lost a daughter, so we don't want anybody else to lose their son, you know, especially when it was an accident ," Praveen Lal told Denver TV station KCNC.

Galley has been charged with reckless endangerment , child abuse and providing a gun to a juvenile because Lal's 15-year-old brother had access to the gun, the police said.

So far Galley has not been charged in Lal's killing . The police said that they do not suspect the involvement of alcohol or drugs.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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