(Mahesh Kumar A./AP)
Less than a week after a man opened fire in a crowded Kansas bar, killing one man and injuring two others, thousands of strangers from around the world have opened up their wallets to comfort the victims’ families.
Three separate GoFundMe accounts have between them raised more than $1 million in donations, which they pledge to help with the families’ medical expenses.
Wednesday’s shooting, allegedly carried out by 51-year-old Adam Purinton, targeted two Indian men in Olathe, Kan., a suburb of the Kansas City metro area. Purinton has been arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder for the attack, which witnesses say he opened by shouting racial slurs and yelling, “Get out of my country!”
One of the survivors, Alok Madasani, told The New York Times that before the shooting, the man sitting near Madasani and his friend Srinivas Kuchibhotla began addressing them with pointed questions.
“He asked us what visa are we currently on and whether we are staying here illegally,” Madasani told the paper on Friday. The Times notes Madasani and his friend were educated in the U.S. and working legally at Garmin, which has an office in town. “We didn’t react. People do stupid things all the time. This guy took it to the next level.”
The shooting that followed claimed Kuchibhotla’s life and left Ian Grillot, who sought to stop it, hospitalized with gunshot wounds in his hand and chest. The FBI is now investigating whether the shooting should also be considered a hate crime.
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SOURCE: COLIN DWYER
NPR
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