South Carolina: A middle-aged man of Indian origin was shot dead outside his home in the United States.
Harnish Patel, 43, was a store owner at Lancaster County, South Carolina. His body was found with gunshot wounds in the front yard of his home on March 2.
The incident occurred a week after an Indian engineer was killed in Kansas in a hate crime shooting that had sent shockwaves across India.
In the latest incident, Patel had closed his store and drove to his nearby home where authorities believe he was confronted by his killer. The store is about 6 km from his house, The Herald reported.
Sheriff Barry Faile said the Indian ethnicity of Patel does not appear to be a factor in the crime.
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.
Jones and other friends said Patel was not always worried about the bottom line of his business. “If you didn’t have the money, he’d let people have food,” Jones said.
Mario Sadler, another customer and friend, said Patel had offered him jobs before, and did anything he could to help out in tough times. “He’s watched my kids grow up, which is why it’s painful.
Dilip Kumar Gajjar, Patel’s friend and owner the ABC store next to the Speedee Mart, said the victim had come to the US improve his family’s life.
Earlier in Kansas, 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed on February 22 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.”
US President Donald Trump had condemned the Kansas shooting. He had said America stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.