OLATHE, KANSAS ― Adam Purinton, the 51-year-old man accused of hurling racial slurs before opening fire on two Indian men in a Kansas bar last week, appeared calm and composed during a brief court appearance Monday.
Appearing via a live video feed inside the Johnson County courthouse in Olathe, Kansas, Puriton said only a series of “yes sirs” before acknowledging that he could not afford a lawyer.
“I am asking the court to appoint counsel,” he told the court from a room at the New Century Detention Center. Public defender Michael McCulloch was assigned to his case. Purinton is scheduled to appear in court again the morning of March 9.
Puriton is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Alok Madasani and Ian Grillot on Wednesday at Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe.
Kuchibhotla, 32, died of his wounds. Madasani, 32, and Grillot, 24, survived. Although Kansas does not have a hate crime law, the FBI is investigating the shooting as a possible federal hate crime.
Dinesh Kansal, an Indian-American resident of Olathe, said he came to the courthouse Monday to get a good look at Purinton.
“I want to know why this idiot did what he did,” Kansal told The Huffington Post, adding that the shooting is “giving this town a bad name all over the world.”
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from The Huffington Post | The Full Feed http://ift.tt/2lsbDPE
via IFTTT
EmoticonEmoticon