Man Who Killed Indian Immigrant in Hate Crime Sentenced to 3 Lifetimes in Prison

Adam W. Purinton, the man who killed an Indian immigrant and wounded another two men at a bar last February as he yelled, “Get out of my country,” has been sentenced to three consecutive life prison sentences on federal hate crime and firearm charges.

Purinton, who plead guilty in federal court, also entered a guilty plea for first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in district court in May for which he received a life sentence. That sentence will run concurrently with the three life sentences handed down earlier this week. Federal prosecutors did not seek the death penalty as a result of Purinton’s guilty plea.

On February 22, 2017, Purinton began verbally harassing Garmin software engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla and his co-worker Alok Madasani, calling them “terrorists” at Austins Bar and Grill outside of Kansas City. Patrons intervened and threw Purinton out, but he drove back home, retrieved his gun, and returned to shoot Kuchibhotla and Madasani multiple times before fleeing. He also shot bystander Ian Grillot, who chased Purinton after the latter fled. He later allegedly told a friend and a bartender that he was running from the cops because he had “just killed some Iranians.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the murder. “The crimes at issue in this case are detestable,” he said. “The defendant acted with clear premeditation in murdering one man, and attempting to murder a second man, simply because of their race, religion and national origin. As a result, a promising young life has been tragically cut short, and other lives have been filled with suffering.” Sessions’s statement rang hollow since he is a strong proponent of policies that have emboldened men like Purinton.

None of Purinton’s victims attended the sentencing. Kuchibhotla’s widow Sunayana Dumala released a statement saying, “If you could have kept your anger inside and spoke to my husband softly, Srinu would have been more than happy to share his background and help you understand that not every brown skinned person is suspicious or evil, but kind, smart and contributing to America. Instead, you chose to rage and bully in anger and when you were stopped, you decided to take their lives.”