{"id":452,"date":"2018-03-06T12:56:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T17:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=452"},"modified":"2018-03-07T12:59:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T17:59:39","slug":"kansas-man-pleads-guilty-to-indian-immigrants-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=452","title":{"rendered":"Kansas Man Pleads Guilty to Indian Immigrant\u2019s Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0JOHN ELIGON<\/span><\/a><\/span>

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Adam Purinton<\/span>Credit<\/span>Henry County Sheriff’s Office, via Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OLATHE, Kan. \u2014 A Kansas man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the murder of an Indian-born engineer whom he had angrily confronted about his immigration status at a bar here last year,\u00a0then fatally shot in an attack that drew international scorn.<\/a><\/p>\n

Witnesses said the suspect, Adam Purinton, yelled, \u201cGet out of my country\u201d before firing the shots that killed the engineer, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and wounded two others. Federal authorities called the attack a hate crime.<\/p>\n

Mr. Purinton\u2019s guilty plea was for state charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for the two men he wounded. Mr. Purinton, 52, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison on May 4, but he also still faces hate crime and firearm charges in federal court. The shooting came at a time of rising angst across the country over anti-immigrant sentiment and its potential ramifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s guilty verdict will not bring back my Srinu, but it will send a strong message that hate is never acceptable,\u201d Mr. Kuchibhotla\u2019s widow, Sunayana Dumala, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Kuchibhotla had been having drinks at Austin\u2019s Bar and Grill with a co-worker, Alok Madasani, who was also from India, when Mr. Purinton approached them on the patio and began interrogating them about their immigration status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you from?\u201d he asked, according to Will Hurst, an assistant district attorney in Johnson County, who was reading from a statement in court on Tuesday. \u201cHow did you get into this country?\u201d<\/p>\n

Other bar patrons came to the defense of the two men, and Mr. Purinton left. But he returned with a Taurus 9-millimeter handgun, covered his face with a scarf and opened fire, Mr. Hurst said. Mr. Purinton, a Navy veteran, fired at the two Indian men at least eight times at close range, the prosecutor said. Mr. Madasani was hit once in the thigh and escaped, but Mr. Kuchibhotla was struck several times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The murder generated immense outrage in India and dominated headlines in the news media there. Many blamed President Trump\u2019s tough rhetoric on immigration, but the White House rejected any link between that and the shooting. Still, the top American diplomat in India released a statement at the time condemning the attack and vowing a full investigation.<\/p>\n

When Mr. Hurst said in court on Tuesday that Mr. Kuchibhotla, 32, had died, Mr. Purinton leaned back, tilted his head up, and his lawyer, Michael McCulloch, patted him on the back. Mr. Purinton, wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed in front of him, spoke only briefly in response to questions from Judge J. Charles Droege.<\/p>\n

Asked how he would plead to the first-degree murder charge, Mr. Purinton said, \u201cGuilty, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Purinton had long struggled with alcoholism, neighbors and family said. He was whimsical and awkward, with a clumsy affect when he was drunk, they said.<\/p>\n

But he really seemed to struggle after his father died in 2015, people who knew him said. His relatively harmless drunkenness seemed to turn into something more sinister, those close to him said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all thought he was going to commit suicide,\u201d said Adele Matthews, his niece. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think he was going to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Matthews said that she and her uncle were always close, but his relationship with her and the rest of the family began to fray after his father\u2019s death. A couple of summers ago, she said, he made a derogatory comment about her weight, something he never would have done in the past.<\/p>\n

On Christmas 2016, he showed up to the family gathering about an hour late, she said, and he was already very drunk. Mr. Purinton was told that he needed to get himself together, Ms. Matthews recalled. One family member was particularly forceful, and Mr. Purinton became belligerent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell me what to do,\u201d he told them, Ms. Matthews said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do whatever I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family kicked him out of the party and pretty much broke ties with him after that, Ms. Matthews said.<\/p>\n

Months later, Mr. Purinton would fracture another family, killing Mr. Kuchibhotla and leaving a wife without her husband.<\/p>\n