The FBI announced it is investigating last week’s triple shooting and homicide in Olathe, Kan., as a hate crime, after the White House called it an “act of racially motivated hatred.”
A witness said the suspect, Adam Purinton, said “get out of my country” to the two Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, before he shot them at Austin’s Bar and Grill on Wednesday.
Ian Grillot, 24, was then shot and wounded when he tried to stop Purinton. Kuchibhotla, 32, died, while Madasani, 32, was wounded.
“The president condemns these and any racially and religiously motivated attacks,” White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
Purinton, who appeared in his first court hearing on Monday, is being held on a $2 million bond and is scheduled to be back in court March 9. He is jailed in Johnson County on murder and attempted murder charges.
President Trump has been criticized for taking so long to condemn the shooting, including by the Kansas City Editorial board.
“Trump has offered no words of condolence for the grieving widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who died from his gunshot wounds,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.
