We’re all human, says Kansas City hero Ian Grillot

GRILLOT SAID HE HAD RUN INTO THE INDIAN ENGINEERS IN THE PAST AND HAD EXCHANGED PLEASANTRIES WITH THE TWO OF THEM

NEWDELHI: A week after he shot to limelight for coming to the rescue of two Indian engineers who were shot at a Kansas bar by a US navy veteran, fame sits lightly on the shoulders of Ian Grillot.

Recovering from injuries caused by a bullet that pierced his hand and lodged in his chest, the 24-year-old says what he did last Wednesday was what he’d have expected anyone to do.

“Nobody deserves to be treated in that manner, my folks raised me (in such a way) that everybody is an equal… Everybody’s a human, let’s treat everybody as that. So I mean it was just, I felt I had no choice. I would just hope that somebody would do that for me,” Grillot told Hindustan Times via Skype in his first interview since the shooting.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, an employee of GPS-maker Garmin, was killed when Adam Purinton opened fire after shouting “get out of my country”.

His colleague, Alok Madasani, 32, was also injured. Grillot waited till he thought the shooter had run out of bullets and then tried to tackle him. But Purinton had one bullet in his gun that he fired at Grillot.

“Well I was definitely a little shocked as I thought it (the gun) was empty… I really didn’t know if I was going to make it. There was a scary situation but just the thought that I may have been able to help in some manner they deserved justice for what happened and that’s why I went after (Purinton) because it was not right what he did,” he said.

Reports suggested Purinton had a problem with alcohol and was worried about his health. He described the two Indians he attacked as people from the “Middle East” and “Iranians”. But Grillot insists there was no reason for the attack.

“I understand he (Purinton) may have been going through a lot... his life but that does not give somebody the excuse to act in the manner that he did,” he said.