On June 9, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Adam Purinton, a white man from Kansas, on hate crime and firearm charges for allegedly shooting three men. Two of the men were Indian nationals, and one died of his wounds.
According to the Kansas City Star, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the Indian national who was fatally shot, worked at a Garmin’s location in Olathe, Kan., as an engineer, alongside fellow engineer Alok Madasani, who was also shot.
They were both at a bar in Olathe when the gunman fired. Ian Grillot, a white man, chased after the gunman and was shot twice in the process, in the hand and the upper chest. Madasani was struck in the leg. Kuchibhotla was shot three times.
According to the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, the indictment alleges that Purinton shot and killed both Kuchibhotla and Madasan because of their "actual and perceived race, color, religion, and national origin."
The Department of Justice has yet to announce whether it will seek the death penalty. A trial attorney of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will prosecute alongside two assistant U.S. attorneys of Kansas in the case U.S. v. Purinton.
“Based on the facts of this case, I believe the hate crime and weapons charges are appropriate and warranted,” said Chief Steven Menke of the Olathe Police Department in a written statement.
Madasani told police that he heard Purinton ask him and Kuchibhotla if they had legal citizenship status before shooting.
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