Suspect told victims to get out of his country

KANSAS This is not right - that was the reason Mr Ian Grillot gave for trying to stop a man from shooting two others in a bar in Kansas, US.

The gunman killed Mr Srinivas Kuchibholta and injured his friend, Mr Alok Madasani, as they were watching a basketball game in the town of Olathe.

Both men, aged 32, worked as engineers for Garmin at its aviation systems engineering division.

Mr Grillot was also shot, and doctors said he is lucky to be alive, reported Kansas news outlet WIBW.

Witnesses told the Kansas City Star that the gunman, Adam Purinton, 51, had been drinking hard and continually used racial slurs.

When a bar regular told him to stop, he yelled at the two Indian men to "get out of my country" before he started shooting.

Mr Grillot, who initially hid under the table, decided to act.

"I wasn't really thinking when I did that," he said.

"It wasn't right, and I didn't want the gentleman to potentially go after somebody else."

Purinton managed to escape in the confusion that followed.

He was caught in Missouri over five hours later, where he told an employee at a local bar that he had shot two Middle-Eastern men. The bartender called the police.

He was charged in Johnson County, Kansas, with one count of premeditated first degree murder and two counts of attempted premeditated first degree murder, Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe told a news conference.

Purinton, a Navy veteran, is being held on a US$2 million bond (S$2.8 million) in Henry County Jail, where he waived his right to fight extradition to Johnson County, the paper reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it was investigating whether the incident was a hate crime.

Mr Madasani was released from hospital on Thursday.