Angry words, then came the gunfire
Two shootings in two states bring new fears of hate crimes.
SEATTLE — Deep Rai was working on his car outside his suburban Seattle home when he was shot and wounded. Srinivas Kuchibhotla and his friend Alok Madasani were having drinks at a bar in Kansas when bullets began flying.
The two incidents occurred almost 1,800 miles and nine days apart. But it’s the similarities of the two suspected hate crimes that have the FBI and local authorities worried.
All three victims were men of Indian origin — one of them a Sikh who had a beard and wore a turban.
And the two apparently unconnected shooters used similar words to reflect their motives, shouting at the victims variations of “Get out of the country!” before firing.
Kuchibhotla, 32, died from wounds suffered at Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe, a city about 20 miles southwest of Kansas City, on Feb. 22. Madasani, 32, was wounded but lived to provide details about the gunman. A suspect was tracked down a day later in Missouri.
Rai, 39, a U.S. citizen who is Sikh, survived being shot Friday in Kent, Wash. A man walked up Rai’s driveway, got into an argument with the homeowner and pulled a gun, firing a bullet into the victim’s arm. He has not been apprehended.
Witnesses said the shooter shouted, “Get out of our country!” before firing.
The gunmen’s leave-thecountry threats have shaken people in the Indian American and Indian expatriate community who fear that they reflect a xenophobia energized by President Trump’s efforts to restrict immigration.
“While we appreciate the efforts of state and local officials to respond to attacks like this, we need our national leaders to make hatecrime prevention a top priority,” said Rajdeep Singh of the New York-based Sikh Coalition. “Tone matters in our political discourse, because this is a matter of life or death for millions of Americans who are worried about losing loved ones to hate.”
Jasmit Singh, a Seattlearea Sikh leader, said about 50,000 Sikhs lived in Washington state. Investigating the shooting as a hate crime is crucial, he said.
“In the past — in Bush, Obama time — there was swift action and communication saying that this is unacceptable,” he told CNN. “We aren’t seeing any response from this administration.”
Trump did condemn the Kansas shooting as a hate crime, although not until a week after it occurred.
Witnesses said the suspect in that attack asked the two Indian computer engineers if they were in the U.S. legally, and they replied that they were employed by a local firm and had skilledworker visas. The suspect, who later said in a 911 recording that he thought the two were Iranian, left the bar, returned with a gun and began shooting, authorities said, reportedly declaring, “Get out of my country!”
Adam Purinton, 51, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.