Kansas shooting: White House breaks silence days after Indian techie's killing, says `early reports` are disturbing

Washington: Days after the killing of Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla at a bar in the US, the White House on Monday said that the early reports coming from Kansas were “disturbing”.

The White House also condemned the alleged hate crimes against the Jewish community in the US.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had on Sunday asked the US to condemn the killing of Kuchibhotla and take the `strongest' action to prevent such attacks. Terming the Kansas shooting as shameful, Naidu had said this was a blot on the US which claims to be the oldest democracy.

At his daily news conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that “early reports coming from Kansas are equally disturbing”.

Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed and Alok Madasani was injured when Adam W Purinton, a white man who earlier served in the US Navy, shot them at the Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, Kansas state, on Wednesday night.

Purinton reportedly got into an argument with the victims and hurled racial slurs. He yelled "get out of my country", "terrorist" before shooting them.

A 24-year-old American named Ian Grillot tried to intervene and received injuries in the firing.

Spicer, during his briefing, also condemned the alleged hate crimes against the Jewish community and asserted that there is no space for violence based on religion and ethnicity.

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“From our country’s founding, we’ve been dedicated to protecting the freedom of our citizens’ rights to worship. No one in America should feel afraid to follow the religion of their choosing freely and openly. The President has dedicated to preserving this originating principle of our nation,” Spicer said.

“And while we’re at it, I don’t want to get ahead of law enforcement, but I was asked the other day about the story in Kansas, the shooting in Kansas. While the story is evolving, early reports out of Kansas are equally disturbing,” the White House Press Secretary said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has joined local law enforcement agencies in investigating the incident that has shocked the entire Indian-American community and several hundreds of Indians either working or studying in the United States.

Spicer said Trump continues to be deeply disappointed and concerned by the reports of further vandalism at Jewish cemeteries.

“The cowardly destruction in Philadelphia this weekend comes on top of similar accounts from Missouri and threats made to Jewish community centers around the country. The President continues to condemn these and any other form of anti-semitic and hateful acts in the strongest terms,” he said.

His remarks came after vandals broke and overturned more than 500 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, the latest in a spate of recent bomb threats and attacks against sites for Jews across the United States.

(With Agency inputs)