Prosecutors charged a 51 year old man with murder for fatally shooting an Indian engineer, and injuring two others, at a Kansas bar. The Federal Government has launched an investigation to determine whether the shooting was a hate crime.
Adam Purinton allegedly opened fire at patrons watching a televised basketball game in Austin Bar and Grills, Olathe, Kansas. A bartender cited that the man used "racial slurs" before opening fire. Witnesses also said that he yelled "get out of my country". The deceased victim has been identified as Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, and the two injured are Alok R Madasani, 32, and Ian P Grillot, 24. Purinton was drinking at the bar, when he mistook the men of Indian-origin as "Middle Eastern" said a witness.
Addressing a press conference, a local prosecutor said Purinton has been charged with one count of premeditated first degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first degree murder. He currently awaits extradition to Kansas from Missouri. It remains unclear if Purinton will be charged with a federal hate crime. He is under a $2 million bond. Kuchibotla and Madasani, both worked as aviation engineers at a GPS-technology company, Garmin, with offices in Kansas. A mutual friend Siva Sattanathan said both of them were Hindus and originally from Hyderabad, India. The company released a statement of condolence saying, "We're saddened that two Garmin associates were involved in last night's incident, and we express our condolences to the family and friends of our co-workers involved. Garmin will have grievance counselors on-site and available for its associates today and tomorrow."
The third victim, Grillot who attended high school, was separately located inside the bar, when he "stood up for two people being mistreated by man who was in the wrong" says a GoFundMe page created by his sister.
Another GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money to help Kuchibotla's family raised more than $170,000 by Thursday night. Purinton was arrested by the police at an Applebee's restaurant in Clinton, Missouri, 70 miles away from the scene of the incident. A bartender from the restaurant called the cops when Purinton revealed he had been involved in a shooting. Sources claim he said he had "just killed two Middle Eastern men." The Council on American-Islamic Relations have urged federal law enforcement to file hate crime charges against him.
"There is a fear of the other that has been exacerbated during the election," said Adam Hamilton, a pastor in a nearby community. "The diversity is increasing. It's still small but it's growing. A small contingent in my congregation are Indian. So I want people in our church to think about what things must be like for them right now. And to let them know that we are thinking of them."
