Kansas Man Charged With Murder For Fatal Shooting Of Indian Engineer

The FBI launched an investigation to determine if the shooting was a hate crime.
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Prosecutors on Thursday charged a 51-year-old man with murder for a shooting at a Kansas bar Wednesday night that left an Indian engineer dead and injured two other men.

The federal government has launched an investigation to determine if the shooting was a hate crime, officials said during a press conference on Thursday.

Adam W. Purinton allegedly opened fire at Austins Bar and Grill as patrons watched a televised basketball game in Olathe, Kansas, on Wednesday night, the Associated Press reported. A bartender told the AP that the man used “racial slurs” before the shooting occurred, and witnesses told the Kansas City Star that he yelled “get out of my country” at the other men.

Officers responded to reports of gunfire at the bar and found three victims with gunshot wounds. Emergency responders rushed them to an area hospital, where one of the victims was pronounced dead.

Olathe police identified the deceased victim as 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla. The two other injured victims, identified as Alok R. Madasani, 32, and Ian P. Grillot, 24, were recovering at a hospital in stable condition by Thursday afternoon.

The FBI is working with the Olathe Police Department to determine whether the shooting was bias-motivated and the victims’ civil rights were violated, FBI special agent in charge Eric Jackson said during Thursday’s press conference.

Kuchibhotla and Madasani worked as aviation engineers at Garmin, a GPS technology company with offices in Kansas, the Kansas City Star reported.

Siva Sattanathan, a friend of the two engineers, told the New York Daily News that Kuchibhotla and Madasani were Hindus originally from Hyderabad, India.

Grillot ― the third victim, who attended high school in Olathe, according to his Facebook page ― was at the bar separately from the engineers Wednesday night when he “stood up for two people being mistreated by a man who was in the wrong,” according to a GoFundMe page created by Grillot’s sister.

A GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money to help Kuchibhotla’s family had raised more than $170,000 as of Thursday night.

Police arrested Purinton at an Applebee’s restaurant in Clinton, Missouri, some 70 miles away from the scene of the incident, early Thursday morning, according to Fox4KC. A bartender at the Missouri restaurant called police when Purinton revealed that he’d been involved in a shooting. According to the Star, he told the bartender he’d “just killed two Middle Eastern men.”

Purinton remains in a jail in Missouri with bail set at $2 million. He’s currently awaiting extradition to Kansas.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal law enforcement on Thursday to file hate crime charges against Purinton.

Moussa Elbayoumy, CAIR-Kansas board chair, told The Huffington Post the group stands up for any type of hate crime, regardless of ethnicity or religion, because “we see a wave of bigotry and hatred towards minorities” of all kind.

Purinton currently faces charges on one count of premeditated first degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first degree murder.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Friday expressed condolences over the loss of life, according to Reuters. Spicer also claimed it was absurd to suggest President Donald Trump’s rhetoric could be linked to the violence.

This story has been updated to include comment from Spicer.

 

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Before You Go

Fighting Racism And Discrimination Everyday
Bullying(01 of12)
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Even kids who share the same identity -- be it racial or gender -- can be guilty of bullying and discrimination against each other. Ontario's Ministry of Education defines bullying as "a form of repeated, persistent, and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person's body, feelings, self-esteem, or reputation." (credit:Alamy)
Cyberbullying (02 of12)
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Social media can be a platform for bullying to continue even after school is out. Cyberbullying occurs when young people take malicious actions online. through chat rooms, email, social sites and instant messaging. (credit:Getty Images)
Stock Answer To 'What Are You?'(03 of12)
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"You don't need to go into full confessional mode, but have fun with it, if that helps. Or be perfectly honest," author Jonathan R. Miller said. Miller writes e-books with multi-ethnic characters and themes. You don't have to talk about all the nuances of your family tree every time you're asked about your background, he said. That can be exhausting. Find something that works for you personally. (credit:Shutterstock)
Real Answer To 'What Are You?'(04 of12)
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"I like the word 'mixed' because it's a messy word, and in my experience growing up mixed is exactly that," Miller said. He suggests that it's important to allow yourself to truly wrestle with questions of identity in environments you consider safe. (credit:Shutterstock)
A Friend To Confide In(05 of12)
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If you are struggling with your identity, you don't have to tell the whole world, but confide in a friend that you trust. Having someone to confide in is important. "If you can, find someone who you can talk to about your most honest, ever-evolving, often-messy answer to the question, 'What am I?'" Miller said. (credit:Getty Images)
If You Can't Speak, Write(06 of12)
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"Maybe you don't have anyone trustworthy to talk to honestly about your experiences. Write about them. It helped me, sometimes, to get those out," Miller said.It may not make a lot of sense initially and it might feel uncomfortably personal, but write. Keep a journal, write short stories and rename the characters, try your hand at poetry -- whatever feels best. (credit:Shutterstock)
Let Your Identity Be An Open Question(07 of12)
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"You are likely being told at different times, more or less, to hurry up and get off the fence, pick a side and get on with it," Miller said. It's not necessarily a bad thing to be unsure of who you are, even if your peers seem to have their acts together, he said. Teenage years are discovery years. Miller also quoted author Rainer Maria Rilke: "'Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. ... Live in the question.' That's good advice. Difficult to follow, but good." (credit:Shutterstock)
Embrace The Chameleon(08 of12)
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When it comes to mixed heritage, "you don't have to be 'both' or 'other' or 'all of the above' all of the time. Sometimes the only way to figure out what you are is to choose one thing and be it for a while," Miller said.Explore how it feels to fully embrace a single aspect of your identity, for short period of time. See "what stick and what slides off." It's simply learning, Miller said. (credit:Shutterstock)
Don't Be Afraid To Abandon The Labels Altogether(09 of12)
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"I can't tell you how many multi-racial people I've met who have chosen a single race or ignored race entirely and been perfectly content with the decision. A biracial friend of mine used to tell me, 'I'm black and white, yes, but I'm black. Period,'" Miller said. He said he knows many people have chosen to identify with only one aspect of their multi-background, while others have embraced the blend. (credit:Shutterstock)
Get Involved In Life(10 of12)
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Find creative ways to occupy your time, Miller said. Join a group or do an activity (with others) where you are empowered to be who you are, instead of having to act how others think you need to be in order to fit in. (credit:Getty Images)
Be Proud Of Who You Are(11 of12)
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Take pride in your ethnic (culture, color or religion) heritage. You have no control over your heritage, and you can't change that fact that this is who you are. So embrace it and learn as much as you can. "You may feel like it would be an insult to your heritage to embrace one aspect of yourself above the others, but trust me, it wouldn't be. This is important: it is not your job to uphold, with perfect equity and grace, all of the elements that went into your making," Miller said. (credit:Shutterstock)
Have A Ready Defense Against The Identity Police(12 of12)
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"Often they're the 'gatekeepers' that decide whether you're 'in' or 'out.' But what you can do is have a ready answer for the 'charges' they level against you. Whether you use humour, earnestness, or self-righteous anger, it helps to have your defense lined up and ready," Miller said. Sometimes people think all the "members" of their cultural or ethnic community must behave, dress and think a certain way. But as an individual, you can do whatever you want and find your own identity. (credit:Getty Images)