Kansas shooting: More than $1M raised for kin of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, two other men injured in incident
Four crowdfunding pages were set up to help the families of the three victims of last week's shooting at a bar in Kansas, US.
In Short
- More than $1 million raised on four GoFundMe pages.
- Funds set up to help victims of the Kansas bar shooting from last week.
- One Indian techie was killed in the incident, while two other men - an Indian included - were injured.
Crowdfunding efforts to help the families of the victims of the Kansas bar shooting in which Hyderabad engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla lost his life have managed to raise more than $1 million.
Following the shooting, four crowdfunding pages were set up on crowdfunding forum GoFundMe to help the kin of Kuchibhotla and the other two men - Alok Madasani and Ian Grillot - who were wounded in the shooting.
Madasani, also an Indian, is Kuchibhotla's co-worker at GPS device-maker Garmin and has been discharged from the hospital. Grillot, meanwhile, is being hailed as a hero after he lunged at suspected gunman, Adam Purinton, during the shooting. The 24-year-old American was injured in the process.
A GoFundMe spokeswoman said the outpouring to support on the four funds involves more than 26,000 donations from all US states, the District of Columbia and 39 countries.
US OFFICIALS CONDEMN INCIDENT
The United States government has assured India that a thorough investigation will be conducted, with the governors of the states of Kansas and Missouri joining the list of US officials who have strongly condemned the shooting.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said, "The friends and family of Srinivas Kuchibhotla are in our prayers. We hope for a speedy recovery for the other men who were shot."
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, meanwhile, said that violence has no place in his state. The gunman was arrested from Missouri. Greitens further revealed that Purinton had admitted to committing the crime to a citizen.
"It was a concerned Missourian who is said to have alerted the police. The suspect had admitted the crime to her and asked her for a place to hide out. She took responsible and decisive action that led to the arrest," Greitens said in a statement.
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'GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY'
The shooting took place Wednesday last week at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas. The bar, which had remained shut since the shooting, reopened on Saturday.
According to reports, Adam Purinton, the gunman, asked the two Indians about they type of visa they had and shouted 'get out of my country' before opening fire, suggesting that it was a racially-motivated hate crime.
Purinton was later arrested from a bar in the state of Missouri and remains jailed on charges of murder and attempted murder.
Also read: How a suspected hate crime in Kansas shattered the American dreams of a Hyderabad engineer
Also watch: Kansas bar shooting: Do we belong here, asks wife of murdered Indian techie
(With inputs from AP and PTI)