Kansas shooting: Donald Trump is the primary reason, says Srinivas Kuchibhotla's relative

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Hyderabad: Expressing shock over the shooting incident in the US in which Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed, a relative of the Indian-origin engineer on Friday said this is the first incident of its own which has taken place in the family.

Talking to the media, the man said US newly-elected president Donald Trump is the primary reason behind the hate crime that took place at a bar in Kansas, US.

He further said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, BJP activists, and the Telangana government are assisting the family. “We want the body to be here at the earliest.”

Earlier, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) described the attack as a hate crime and said the killings were "the first reported bias-motivated fatality in the US after the bitter Presidential Election".

US President Donald Trump`s "America First" rhetoric on immigration and jobs has fuelled a climate of intolerance. The United States saw a wave of hate crimes, including a spike in anti-immigrant incidents, during the first month after Trump`s election in November, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were shot in the Austins Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas, on Wednesday evening by a former Navy serviceman who mistook them for "Middle Easterners". Kuchibhotla died in the shooting.

Kuchibhotla and Madasani were shot at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, on Wednesday night by a former Navy serviceman who mistook them for "Middle Easterners". Kuchibhotla died in the shooting.

The suspect fled from the bar on foot and was apprehended five hours later at an Applebee’s in Clinton, Missouri, where he reportedly told an employee that he needed a place to hide out because he had just killed two Middle Eastern men, the Star reported.

Swaraj has also expressed shock over the incident.

The US embassy in New Delhi has condemned the shooting.

"The United States is a nation of immigrants and welcomes people from across the world to visit, work, study, and live," US Chargé d’Affaires MaryKay Carlson said in a statement.

The attacker, identified as Adam Purinton, mistook the Indians for "Middle Easterners" and reportedly yelled "get out of my country".

Kuchibhotla hailed from Hyderabad while Madasani hails from Warangal town in Telangana. They were working as aviation programme managers at Garmin, an electronics manufacturer.