AMN
Close on the heels of the shooting in Kansas,an other person of Indian origin was shot dead in Lancaster County, South Carolina in United State. This killing is also seen as part of hate crime increasing in US.
According to reports an Indian-origin businessman was shot dead in Lancaster County, South Carolina last night. Lancaster County police said, Harnish Patel, the owner of a convenience store, was found dead of gunshot wounds in the front yard of his home on Thursday.
In a statement Lancaster County Coroner’s Office said, Patel closed his store and drove to his nearby home where authorities believe he was confronted by his killer.
Patel’s death comes after an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed in Kansas in a hate crime shooting that had sent shock-waves across Indian-American community.
Last week an India engineer Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was killed when 51-year-old US Navy veteran Adam Purinton opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani at a bar before yelling “get out of my country.”
Sheriff Barry Faile said the Indian ethnicity of Patel does not appear to be a factor in the crime.
“I don’t have any reason to believe that this was racially motivated,”Mr. Faile said
Friends and customers were in shock and were visiting Patel’s home to offer condolences to his family.
“Who would do anything like this to him, as good as he is to everybody,” Nicole Jones, a frequent customer at Patel’s store, told WBTV.
Indian- American community expressed concerns over their safety in an environment of xenophobic and racist rhetoric in the country. US President Donald Trump had condemned the Kansas shooting and said America stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.