The white Kansas man accused of yelling “get out of my country” before pumping bullets into two Indian engineers last week bragged to an Applebees bartender that he had shot and killed some Iranians, a report says.
Adam Purinton, 51, allegedly drove 70 miles east — all the way into Missouri — to make the shocking admission to Sam Suida, despite never even meeting her before, according to the Associated Press.
“He asked if he could stay with me and my husband, and he wouldn’t tell me what he did,” she told the outlet, adding that Purinton had walked in claiming he had done something “really bad” and was on the run.
“I kept asking him, and he said that he would tell me if I agreed to let him stay with me,” Suida explained. “Well, I finally got him to tell me and he said, like, that he shot and killed two Iranian people in Olathe.”
Purinton, who is from the Kansas City suburb, was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder last Wednesday after he opened fire on two men from India at Austin’s Bar and Grill.
According to witnesses, he yelled “get out of my country” at Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, both 32, before blasting away at them. The pair had come to the US to study and reportedly worked as engineers at the GPS-maker Garmin.
Purinton shot and killed Kuchibhotla, injured Madasani, and also wounded a third man, Ian Grillot, 24, who tried to intervene. He then drove to the Applebees in Clinton, Mo. — to boast about what he had done, the AP reports.
After speaking with the Navy veteran, Suida called 911 and told police of their conversation. She reportedly warned the dispatcher that he might “freak out” if cops showed up with sirens blaring — insisting that “something bad’s going to happen” if they do.
While Authorities have yet to give an official motive for the shooting, many believe it was racially motivated on account of what Purinton said before he opened fire. The incident is currently being investigated by the FBI as a possible hate crime.
One of Purinton’s longtime neighbors told the AP that he had become “a drunken mess” after his father’s passing roughly 18 months ago — and that the incident was likely brought on by his deteriorating mental health, rather than racism.
Purinton made his first court appearance on Monday via closed-circuit television from a county jail. He was reportedly assigned a public defender and is scheduled to return to court on March 9.
With Post Wires
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