HYDERABAD: The murder of
Srinivas Kuchibhotla was described as
hate crime
by a local pastor. Adam Hamilton, a local priest posted on his facebook account saying — Please join me in praying for the family of Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed in what appears to be a hate crime last night at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, and for Alok Madasani and Ian Grillot who were injured in the shooting.
The shooter is reported to have shouted, “get out of my country” before killing Kuchibhotla in cold blood. “I'm praying for all in our community who feel anxious or afraid today because of this attack,” he wrote.
One of the injured American identified as Ian Grillot would always fight against injustice, his family said. “He was someone who would not tolerate anybody being subjected to such treatment and therefore his nature had always been to intervene,” said a family member over telephone.
According to another local person, the alleged culprit also got angry at a waitress and kicked her. “He got a gun from his car and came back in and started shooting. Not the Olathe I grew up in,” said Justin Nutt.
Alok Madasani, the other Hyderabadi who was injured, studied engineering from
Vasavi College of Engineering
and also went to the USA for his master’s at
University of Missouri-Kansas
city.
Outrage poured in from across US. “Sorry Sir, this should not have happened,” Benjamin Long of Lee’s summit, Missouri said about the attack. “I am of Indian descent but grew up in Olathe and Gardner. I have always felt proud of where I live and most importantly, safe. That's not the case anymore. Things have changed,” said Shevy Sehrawat, who lives there.
Another local, Hank
Rolando
said the alleged culprit might have some kind of mental disorder, but its not reason enough for him to kill. “Racism isn't a mental disorder. It's a choice people make. They choose to be irrationally scared of people's skin color. This is the America we live in, the fear mongering has taken over due to a certain someone. ,” Rolando said.
Kathleen M Isabell, another local said, “I have PTSD and it's a terrible and disabling condition to live with. But it does not cause me to use racial slurs and shoot people. It affects everyone differently of course, but bigotry is a whole another animal.” she added.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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