Man Charged With Shooting Indian Workers Gets Public Defender

By JON PARTON

Olathe, Kan. (CN) – Wearing an orange jumpsuit, the man charged in the shootings of two workers from India made a brief court appearance Thursday morning, where his public defender asked for more time to review evidence.

Adam Purinton, 51, is charged in the shooting death of Srinivas Kuchibhotla and with wounding of two others at an Olathe, Kansas, bar on Feb. 22.

On Monday, prosecutors filed an affidavit describing the events of the shooting. Two Garmin employees from India, Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, were watching a Kansas University basketball game on the patio of Austin's Bar and Grill when Purinton approached the two and asked if they were legal immigrants, according to the affidavit.

Purinton continued to confront the two until employees escorted him out. He then returned about 30 minutes later with a handgun, prosecutors say. Madasani said he remembered hearing someone shout, "He's back and he's got a gun!"

Kuchibhotla was shot three times and pronounced dead at the University of Kansas Hospital. Madasani was shot once in the leg.

Prosecutors say Purinton began to run off when Ian Grillot, a fellow Garmin employee, thought he was out of ammunition and chased after him. Purinton then turned and shot Grillot in the hand and upper chest.

Police later arrested Purinton in an Applebee's restaurant in Clinton, Missouri, about 80 miles away. He is currently in jail on $2 million bond.

The incident has drawn widespread attention to the safety of immigrants living in the United States. On March 3, Indian national Deep Rai was shot by a partially masked gunman in his driveway while working on his car in Kent, Washington. According to Rai, the shooter shouted at him, "Go back to your own country."

President Donald Trump condemned the Olathe shooting last week in an address to Congress, and the FBI is investigating the case as a hate crime.

Purinton's next court appearance is scheduled for May 9.

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