Kansas Man Who Fatally Shot Indian Immigrant Gets Life in Prison

A Kansas man who fatally shot an Indian-born engineer after angrily confronting him about his immigration status at a bar last year was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, prosecutors said.

The man, Adam W. Purinton, pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder after witnesses said he yelled “Get out of my country!” before firing the shots that killed the engineer, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and wounded two others.

The attack, which federal authorities called a hate crime, reverberated around the world, magnifying concerns about anti-immigrant sentiments in America.

In addition to the life sentence, with no possibility of parole for 50 years, Judge J. Charles Droege of Johnson County District Court sentenced Purinton to nearly 14 years in prison for each of two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder. (Purinton also faces hate crime and firearm charges in federal court.)

All of the counts will run consecutively, prosecutors said in a statement. The terms of Purinton’s sentence had previously been agreed upon, Stephen M. Howe, the Johnson County district attorney, told reporters.

“Our goal is to make sure that he never walks in the community again,” Howe said of Purinton, adding, “I believe that this sentence will achieve that result.”

In a statement read on video and posted by The Kansas City Star, Sunayana Dumala, Kuchibhotla’s widow, said, “Today’s sentencing in the murder of my husband will not bring back Srinu to me, but it will send out a very strong message that hate is never acceptable.”

On Feb. 22, 2017, Kuchibhotla had been having drinks at Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas, with a co-worker, Alok Madasani, who was also from India, when Purinton approached the men on the patio and began interrogating them about their immigration status.

“Where are you from?” he asked, according to Will Hurst, an assistant district attorney in Johnson County, who read from a statement in a court appearance in March. “How did you get into this country?”

Other bar patrons came to the defense of the two men, and Purinton left.

He returned with a handgun, covered his face with a scarf and opened fire, Hurst said. Purinton, a Navy veteran, fired at the two men at least eight times at close range, the prosecutor said. Madasani was hit once in the thigh and escaped, but Kuchibhotla was struck several times.

A third man, Ian Grillot, tried to confront Purinton, believing he had run out of ammunition. Grillot was shot through the hand and chest. His actions were later widely praised.

The murder generated outrage in India and dominated headlines in the news media there. Many blamed President Donald Trump’s tough rhetoric on immigration, but the White House rejected any link between that and the shooting.