Kansas shooting: Killer of Indian immigrant Kuchibhotla gets life sentence

Adam Purinton, the US Navy veteran who had in March this year pleaded guilty of murdering Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in a racially motivated hate crime at a bar in Kansas City last year, was on Friday sentenced to a life in prison. A federal judge in Kansas ruled that Purinton, 52, would spend his life in prison for the first-degree murder of Kuchibhotla, 32, and 165 months for each of the other two murder that he was charged with.

The other two counts in which Purinton had been charged were attempted murder by shooting of Kuchibhotla's friend, Alok Madasani, and a bystander who chased Purinton when the latter fled the Austin Bar and Grill in Olathe city on February 22 last year.

Purinton is said to have yelled, "Get out of my country", before shooting Kuchibhotla, who later died of injuries sustained in the attack.

Kuchibhotla is survived by his wife Sunayana Dumala, who welcomed the court's decision. "Today's sentencing in the murder of my husband will not bring back my Srinu, but it sends a strong message that hate is never acceptable," Dumala said in a statement.