Hyderabad: The FBI on Friday joined the probe into the shooting of Hyderabad techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas, in what is being described as the first hate murder after the Donald Trump administration took over last month.
The accused, Adam Purinton, 51, a White Navy veteran, has been arrested. Purinton had opened fire at Kuchibotla and colleague Alok Reddy Madasani, yelling “terrorist” and “get out of my country” in Austin’s Bar and Grill, a crowded bar in Kansas City. The condition of Mr Alok Reddy, also from Hyderabad, is stable. A US citizen, Mr Ian Grillot, who tried to save them and got injured is out of danger.
Kuchibhotla, 32, and Mr Alok Reddy were colleagues at the headquarters of Garmin, which makes GPS navigation, sonar and timekeeping products in Olathe.
Kuchibhotla is survived by his wife of four years, Sunayana, who works in the US, and his parents who are in Hyderabad.
According to Garmin, Kuchibhotla, a JNTU alumni, and Madasani worked in the company's aviation systems. They used to visit the bar on weekends.
Purinton thought the two engineers were from West Asia. He reportedly provoked an argument with the Indians regarding their presence in “his country,” and how “they were better than him”.
According to the police, Purinton left the bar, returned with a gun and shot them. He then fled to a at another pub, where he told the bartender that he wanted to unwind as he had shot two people. The bartender called the police who arrested Purinton five hours after the shooting. He was charged with premeditated first-degree murder.
“The murder of Kuchibhotla is the first reported bias-motivated fatality in the United States after the bitter Presidential election,” said the Hindu American Foundation. “The FBI is investigating to determine if the shooting of Kuchibhotla was a bias-motivated hate crime in violation of the victim’s civil rights,” Mr Eric Jackson, FBI special agent, told the local media.
Mr Tom Beall, acting US attorney for the District of Kansas. said the US attorney office and the US department of justice would evaluate the case as more evidence is gathered. “It was a tragic and senseless act of violence,” Olathe police chief Steven Menke told reporters.
Srinivas loved sports, says ex-professor
Deceased Srinivas was an alumni of Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology. He passed out in 2005. The college management said he was among the 25 out of 60 students who passed out from the college and settled in the US.
Director VJIT, Prof P Venugopal Reddy, said he heard from teachers that Srinivas was a good student and a humble indivi-dual and active in sports. “We do not know much about him, as he never came back to the college after flying to the US,” he said.
Previous incidents
Feb, 2017: Mamidala Vamsi Reddy, 27-year-old student from Warangal district of Telangana shot dead near his apartment in California.
Nov, 2016: Gurnoor Singh Nahal, 17-year-old Indian-origin Sikh boy shot dead outside his home in California.
2015
Feb: 58-year-old Indian man in Albama was violently assaulted by a police official without any provocation that left him partially paralysed.
June: 23-year-old engineering graduate from Kushaiguda, pursuing master’s degree in information technology at Atlantis University in Miami, shot dead by unidentified persons in front of his apartment in Miami
July: An elderly Indian-American man was attacked and left bleeding on the road in New Jersey. He sustained several stitches and broken teeth.
Aug: Shaolin Chandam from Manipur shot dead outside his home during an altercation in the state of Virginia.
