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India condemns deadly shooting of engineer in Kansas as FBI probes 'hate crime'

Kansas: A shooting in a Kansas bar on Wednesday that left one Indian engineer dead and another injured has escalated into an international incident amid fears the attack was motivated by race.

Authorities in the United States, including agents from the FBI, are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime, and India's government expressed shock over the episode in suburban Kansas City.

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"I am shocked at the shooting incident in Kansas in which Srinivas Kuchibhotla has been killed," India's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, said on Friday in a Twitter post.

"My heartfelt condolences to bereaved family." 

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Ms Swaraj said she had spoken to Mr Kuchibhotla's father and brother, who live in Hyderabad, India.

In New Delhi, the episode has raised fresh alarm about the treatment of foreigners in the United States, where President Donald Trump has made clamping down on immigration and refugees from predominantly Muslim countries a central part of his "America First" agenda.

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The attack occurred around 7.15pm on Wednesday at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas, south-west of Kansas City.

At least one witness said that the gunman, identified by authorities as Adam W. Purinton, 51, yelled "get out of my country" before opening fire, The Kansas City Star reported A bartender at a Missouri restaurant where Purinton was later captured said he had heard him say that he had killed two Middle Eastern men.

A 24-year-old American man who tried to intervene after he reportedly heard the gunman utter racist slurs was shot and hospitalised.

Citing judicial ethics and the ongoing inquiry, investigators in the United States have offered no specifics about the allegations against Purinton, who was charged on Thursday with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder.

The federal government could ultimately try to bring civil rights charges against Purinton.

"Our role in this investigation is to work jointly with local law enforcement to determine if an individual's civil rights were violated," said Eric K. Jackson, special agent in charge of the FBI's field office in Kansas City, Missouri.

"It's not uncommon for hate crime investigations to be conducted jointly by the FBI and local law enforcement and prosecuted under the state law."

Jail records in Henry County, Missouri, showed Purinton remained in custody there on Friday morning, awaiting extradition to Kansas.

Stephen M. Howe, the district attorney in Johnson County, Kansas, said Purinton's bond had been set at $US2 million ($2.6 million).

The dead man, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, worked for Garmin, a GPS navigation and communications device company. The wounded man, Alok Madasani, also worked for Garmin, according to the Indian government. The men were in their early 30s.

Many immigrants in the United States have been voicing concerns about the policies and language of Mr Trump, who has ordered restrictions on immigration and tougher deportation process for undocumented immigrants.

Thousands of Indian technology workers are working in the United States under the H1-B program, which grants skilled foreign workers temporary visas.  

The Kansas attack dominated the Indian news media on Friday, with headlines calling the wounded American, Ian Grillot, a hero, and labelling the shooting a hate crime.

In a video recorded at his hospital bed, Mr Grillot said he had hidden under a table when the shooting began, then pursued the assailant, mistakenly thinking he was out of bullets.

Mr Grillot was shot in the hand and the chest.

"It wasn't right, and I didn't want the gentleman to potentially go after somebody else," Mr Grillot said.

Mr ​Madasani's father, Jagan Mohan Reddy, a government engineer in Hyderabad, said by telephone that his family was "in a state of shock."

He said he did not know whether he would ask Mr Madasani and another son living in the United States to leave the country.

"We have to think it over," he said. "My sons are not new to America. They have been staying there for the last 10 to 12 years. This is a new situation, and they are the best judges."

But as he recalled Mr Madasani's visit to India in 2014, Mr Reddy pointedly said Mr Trump's policies and tone could be inciting violence.

"At that time he was not talking about any hate crime," he said.

Mr Trump has made no public comments about the attack.

The New York Times

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