Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced that Kansas shooting, where an Indian engineer was shot to death in an alleged racial attack by a gunman, is being investigated as a hate crime, reports The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders condemned the Kansas shooting, saying that the shooting appears to be “an act of racially motivated hatred.”
Asserting that such attacks have no place in the United States, Sanders said that she wants to reiterate the President condemns these or any other racially or religiously motivated attacks in the strongest terms.
She added that U.S. President Donald Trump is “keeping the family of the victim who was senselessly killed in his thoughts and praying for the full and speedy recovery for those who were wounded.”
An Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot to death in Kansas in an alleged racial attack, after the gunman was heard shouting “get out of my country”.
According to local media, the gunman, Adam Purinton, 51 who is a Navy veteran was arrested after fleeing the spot of incident, after he allegedly blasted off several rounds on Thursday.
The Police say Purinton shot and killed Kuchibhotla, an engineer at GPS maker Garmin International and wounded his colleague Alok Madasani.
He was reportedly taken into custody by the police at Applebee’s in Clinton, Missouri, about 82 miles southeast of Olathe.
Purinton was working as a desktop support specialist for an information technology company in the Kansas City area.
The last rites of Kuchibhotla were performed on Tuesday, amidst a wave of emotional upheaval.
Rituals were performed at Kuchibhotla’s residence in Hyderabad.
Kuchibhotla’s mortal remains arrived on Monday night. Telangana’s Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali was also present at the airport to receive his body.
Police personnel were deployed at the cargo terminal building and Minister of Transport for Telangana, Mahender Reddy was earlier present at the airport but left due to flight’s delay.
Kuchibhotla was killed when 52-year-old Adam Purinton, walked into Austins Bar and Grill in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe and opened fire on Wednesday evening.
Kuchibhotla’s friend, Alok Madasani, and Ian Grillot, a bar-goer who tried to intervene in the attack, were also shot, but survived.
Witnesses told local media they heard the suspect yell, “Get out of my country.” Meanwhile, the FBI has launched an investigation to determine whether the shooting was a hate crime.
Purinton has been charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder. (ANI)