Paul Ryan: Indian Man Killed In Kansas Shooting Was ‘Senselessly Murdered’

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., listens during a news conference with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, following a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucus at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Pence and Ryan promised repeal of President Obama’s health care law now that the GOP is in charge of White House and Congress.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., listens during a news conference with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, following a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucus at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017... Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., listens during a news conference with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, following a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucus at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Pence and Ryan promised repeal of President Obama’s health care law now that the GOP is in charge of White House and Congress. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said in a statement on Wednesday that Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the Indian man killed in a Kansas shooting currently under investigation as a hate crime, was “senselessly murdered.”

“I expressed the House’s condolences on the death of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was senselessly murdered last week in Kansas,” Ryan said in a statement released after he met with Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. “Our peoples must continue to stand together.”

Sunayana Dumala, Kuchibhotla’s widow, asked what the government will do “to stop hate crime” in an emotional tribute to her late husband posted on Tuesday.

“Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?” she wrote.

Adam Purinton, a 51-year-old resident of Olathe, was arrested last week in connection with the shooting and charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder.

On Tuesday the FBI opened a hate crime investigation into the shooting, which witnesses described as racially motivated.

Purinton allegedly shouted “get out of my country” before opening fire.

A bartender at a different location later told a 911 dispatcher that Purinton “said that he shot and killed two Iranian people.”

Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, another victim, were immigrants from India. Ian Grillot, the third victim, was shot while intervening.

Trump personally addressed the shooting during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, after almost a week of silence.

“Recent threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” he said.

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