Tech worker deplores ‘senseless crime’ at vigil for Srinivas Kuchibotla
An Indian man who was shot and wounded at a bar in suburban Kansas City last week says he wished the killing of his best friend during the attack had all been a dream, but that the incident, apparently fueled by racism, “doesn’t reflect the true spirit of Kansas”.
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| Alok Madasani, who was wounded in a shooting that killed Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, attends a vigil at a conference center in Olathe, Kansas, on Sunday. |
Alok Madasani, 32, addressed a crowd of hundreds during a vigil on Sunday night at the Ball Conference Center in Olathe. He described the fatal shooting last Wednesday of his friend and co-worker, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, as “a senseless crime,” the Kansas City Star reported.
“The main reason why I am here is that’s what my best friend, Srinivas, would have done,” Madasani said. “He would have been here for me.”
Another patron, Ian Grillot, 24, was also wounded when he tried to intervene in the shooting at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe.
A bullet went through Grillot’s right hand and into his chest, just missing a major artery but fracturing a vertebra in his neck.
“Another half-inch, I could be dead or never walk again,” he said on Thursday from his hospital bed in a video from the University of Kansas Health System. Grillot did not describe what led to the shooting, saying only that he felt compelled to intervene to help others.
“I was just doing what anyone should have done for another human being,” he said.
At the vigil on Sunday, Madasani said: “I wish it was a dream.”
Adam Purinton, 51, of Olathe, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. He has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. According to witnesses, Purinton yelled “get out of my country” at the two Indian men before he opened fire.
Madasani said in an interview the suspect first asked what visas the two Indian men were on. Both worked for GPS device-maker Garmin in Olathe.
Still walking on crutches, Madasani drew applause when he called the shooting “an isolated incident that doesn’t reflect the true spirit of Kansas, the midwest and the United States”.
In a febrile atmosphere surrounding Donald Trump’s hardline policies on immigration, the shooting has drawn international comment.
Madasani recalled how Kuchibhotla, who was also 32, never complained about picking him up and driving him to work for six months.
“He waited till I bought a car. That’s the kind of guy he was – is,” Madasani said.
guardian
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