A Kansas man pleaded guilty in state court this week to killing an engineer from India a year ago in a rage of hate. The crime made national headlines as it was quickly politicized.
Adam Purinton, 52, also pleaded guilty to injuring two others during the shooting incident at a sports bar in February 2017.
Witnesses told Kansas media that Purinton, yelled, “Get out of my country,” before shooting Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani at Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe. A third man, Ian Grillot was shot and injured as he tried to intervene.
- Kuchibhotla, who later died from injuries sustained in the attack, and Madasani were both originally from India and worked as engineers at Garmin.
Purinton pleaded guilty to one count of premeditated first-degree murder in Kuchibhotla’s death and two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder in the shootings of Madasani and Grillot, officials said. He faces additional hate crime charges in federal court.
Kuchibhotla’s widow, Sunayana Dumala, said the plea “will send a strong message that hate is never acceptable. We must understand and love one another,”
Political fallout
Media outlets and democrats were quick to politicize the tragedy as it came just weeks after 2017 inauguration of President Trump. Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was quick to tweet a link to an article on the shooting and called on President Donald Trump to “step up and speak out” against “threats and hate crimes.”
CNN and other left-leaning news outlets barely let the news of the shooting flash across the screens before they began blaming it on a “atmosphere of hate” supposedly only created since the election of the new president.
A White House spokeswoman was also quick to condemn the shooting, telling reporters that the shooting appears to be “an act of racially motivated hatred.”
It did not dissuade opponents for linking President Trump to the shooting.
Purinton’s sentencing is scheduled for May 4.