Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Friday, October 23, the availability of $300,000 in rewards for information leading to an arrest and conviction in six unsolved murder cases in San Mateo, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura counties, his office said.

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Oct. 23, 2026 — $300,000 in rewards for unsolved murders

In Elk Grove, Sacramento County, Gurmej Atwal, 78, and Surinder Singh, 65, were fatally shot in 2011 during their daily afternoon walk along East Stockton Boulevard near Geneva Point Drive. According to police, a lifted truck pulled alongside the two men and the assailant or assailants fired multiple times. The governor's office said Mr. Atwal and Mr. Singh were well known within their community and place of worship, and that in 2016 a new park in Elk Grove was named after them in their memory. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Elk Grove Police Department at 916-627-3111.

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Oct. 23, 2026 — $300,000 in rewards for unsolved murders

$300,000Total rewards announced Oct. 23 across six cases
$50,000Reward per case, for information leading to arrest and conviction
2011Year Atwal and Singh were killed in Elk Grove

The other cases are: Michelle Matteucci, killed in Daly City in 1987 while walking home from school (Daly City police, 650-991-8119); John Graves, 27, a father of three who worked in his family's automotive upholstery business, shot in Fresno in 2017 while stopped at a red light at Clinton Avenue and First Street (Fresno police Sergeant Leyva, 559-621-2440); Darnell Smith, 20, a Mesa College student, shot in San Diego's Emerald Hills in 2008 (San Diego police Homicide Unit, 619-531-2293); Eduardo Lira, 20, shot in Santa Paula in 2018 near High and Sycamore Streets, in an attack that also injured his companion (Santa Paula police Commander Eric Starna, 805-826-2227); and Estevan Mejia, 34, a nurse working for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, shot in 2024 in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Amber Montenegro, 323-890-5500).

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Oct. 23, 2026 — $300,000 in rewards for unsolved murders

Newsom said: "Every family deserves answers when a loved one is taken by violence." Under California law, law enforcement agencies may ask the governor to issue rewards in specified unsolved cases where they have exhausted all investigative leads, to encourage people with information to come forward, the governor's office said. EIN Presswire carried the same announcement on Friday.

Source: EIN Presswire, Oct. 23, 2026 — Governor Newsom announces $300,000 in rewards for unsolved murders

Why this matters for Punjabi readers

The Elk Grove case is one of the most painful unsolved cases for California's Sikh community: two elders shot in broad daylight on their daily walk in 2011, with no one convicted. The $50,000 reward renews the official appeal — anyone who knows anything about that afternoon on East Stockton Boulevard is asked to call Elk Grove police at 916-627-3111.

What is solid

  • Governor Newsom announced $300,000 in rewards on Oct. 23 covering six named unsolved murder cases, including Atwal and Singh in Elk Grove — Governor's office and EIN Presswire.
  • Atwal, 78, and Singh, 65, were shot in 2011 on East Stockton Boulevard near Geneva Point Drive during their daily walk, and a park was named for them in 2016 — Governor's office, citing police.

What is only claimed

  • Who shot Atwal and Singh, and why, has never been established in court — the case remains unsolved, which is why the reward has been offered. No motive is stated in the governor's announcement.