Witnesses: Bar gunman shouted ‘get out of my country’
OLATHE, Kan. — In the middle of a crowded bar, Adam Purinton yelled at two Indian men to “get out of my country,” witnesses said, then opened fire in an attack that killed one of the men and wounded the other, as well as a third man who tried to help.
Hours later, the 51-year-old former air traffic controller reportedly told a bartender in another town he needed a place to hide because he had just killed two Middle Eastern men.
In India, the father of one of the wounded men called Wednesday’s attack in the Kansas City suburbs a hate crime, but authorities on Friday declined to discuss a motive as they investigated the shooting. It swiftly stoked fears about the treatment of immigrants, who feel targeted by President Donald Trump’s promises to ban certain travelers, build a wall along the Mexico border and put “America first.”
The slain man was identified as Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32. His widow said he came to the U.S. in 2005 to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Texas at El Paso and worked in Iowa for six years before moving to the Kansas City area.
“He did not deserve a death like this,” Sunayana Dumala said Friday at a news conference organized by her husband’s employer, the GPS device-maker Garmin. “I don’t know what to say. We’ve read many times in newspapers of some kind of shooting happening somewhere. I was always concerned, ‘Are we doing the right thing staying in the U.S. or America.’ But he always assured me good things happen in America.”
Though she did not mention Trump by name, she directed anger at the U.S. government, asking what officials would do to stop hate crimes. “Not everyone is a Muslim,” she said, describing herself as Hindu, “Not everyone will be harmful to this country.”
Purinton was jailed on murder and attempted murder charges. His first court appearance was scheduled for Monday.
A bartender at Austins Bar and Grill in the suburb of Olathe said Purinton used racial slurs before firing. He was taken into custody about five hours later after speaking with another bartender at an Applebee’s some 70 miles away in Clinton, Mo.
The Kansas City Star reported Purinton’s comments to the second bartender. The paper did not cite its sources.
The other men who were shot were identified as 32-year-old Alok Madasani, who was released from the hospital Thursday, and 24-year-old Ian Grillot, who remained hospitalized.
Madasani’s father, Jaganmohan Reddy, said he had spoken with his wounded son over the phone and is worried about his safety.
“I request other parents to think twice before sending their children to the United States,” he said.