The widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a victim of a triple shooting in Kansas that some witnesses described as racially motivated, said on Friday that she needs “an answer from the government” about how it plans to stop such violence.
“I have a question in my mind: Do we belong?” Sunayana Dumala said at a news conference on Friday, as quoted by the Kansas City Star.
She said that she often asked Kuchibhotla if they were doing “the right thing” by staying in the United States.
“But he always assured me that only good things happen to good people,” Dumala said.
“I need an answer from the government,” she said. “What are they going to do to stop this hate crime?”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Friday that it was “absurd” to suggest any connection between President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the shooting.
“Any loss of life is tragic but I’m not going to get into that kind of — to suggest that there’s any correlation I think is a bit absurd,” he told reporters during a press gaggle. “I’m not going to get any further than that.”
Adam Purinton, a 51-year-old resident of Olathe, Kansas, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the shooting and charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
He allegedly shouted “get out of my country” before opening fire at a bar on Wednesday night. A bartender said that Purinton used “racial slurs” before he opened fire.
Purinton later told a bartender that he had killed two Middle Eastern men, according to a Thursday report by the Kansas City Star.
Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, immigrants from India, were among the three men transported to area hospitals after the shooting, where Kuchibhotla later died.
