The families of an Indian engineer who was killed and another who was injured in the firing by an American in Kansas have blamed the policies of President Donald Trump for the incident.
While parents of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot dead, were too shocked to speak, his relatives said the action of the former Navy serviceman was a result of Trump's policies.
"It shows Trump is the prime reason," was how Srinivas' cousin R. Sastry reacted while talking to reporters at the engineer's house at Bachupally on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
"The attacker made racist remark and asked them to get out of the country. It was clear that he wanted to target them," said Sastry.
He said though many of his relatives were living in the US for 10 to 20 years, they never encountered any such incident.
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"We feel threatened," said another relative of Srinivas.
A pall of gloom descended on the house of Srinivas as grieving relatives pour in to console his parents.
His father K. Madhusudhana Sastry, 70, who retired as scientist from Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), and mother Parvata Vardhini, were in a state of shock.
One of the three sons of Madhusudhana, Srinivas was living in US for over a decade. He married in 2012 and his wife was also staying with him.
Srinivas, 32, was killed and his colleague Alok Madasani, hailing from Warangal town, was injured when Adam W. Purinton, a white who earlier served in the US Navy, shot them at the Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, Kansas state, on Wednesday night.
The two engineers were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an electronics manufacturer.
Purinton reportedly got into an argument with the victims and hurled racial slurs. He yelled "get out of my country" and "terrorist" before shooting them.
Purinton, according to reports, provoked them into argument asking their presence and work in his country, and how they were better than him.
Alok's father Madasani Jaganmohan Reddy said though they told Purinton that they are legally staying and working in US, he continued to throw slurs and fired at them.
Alok is recovering and is out of danger but Reddy said he would ask his son to return home as the situation had turned bad after Trump became the President. "My son, like many other Indians in US are well qualified and can get better jobs in India," he said.
--IANS
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