Alok Madasani speaks Sunday at a vigil honoring his best friend Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed last week in a shooting.

Olathe, Kansas (Diya TV) — Alok Madasani made his way towards the podium Sunday night with the help of his crutches, he was speaking at a vigil for the victims of the gun violence in Olathe that killed his best friend and left him and another man injured.

The even was sponsored by the India Association of Kansas City.

“I wish it was a dream,” Madasani said of the attack that left Srinivas Kuchibhotla dead. Both men were engineerings at Garmin in Olathe. “One thing that I really wanted to emphasize is, the main reason why I am here is that’s what my best friend, Srinivas, would have done,” Madasani said. “He would have been here for me, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”

Madasani told the crowd that he and Kuchibhotla had been frequenting the site of the fatal shooting for more than two years. It became a sort of tradition for the two to share a drink at the end of a long day. Madasani and Kuchibhotla first became friends in 2008. When Madasani was without a car for six months, it was Kuchibhotla who drove to his house each day so the two could carpool together to the office.

“What happened that night was a senseless crime and that took away my best friend,” he said. “Not even a single time did he express that this is getting tough. He waited till I bought a car. That’s the kind of guy he was — is. I don’t even want to use ‘was’ because we were friends for nine years and the memories are so fresh.”

 

Adam Purinton is alleged to have been the shooter, he’s been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. The FBI is also investigating the case as a possible federal hate crime. Purinton allegedly shouted “get out of my country” to the two men before he began shooting.

Purinton was arrested hours later in nearby Clinton, Mo., a tape of a call to 911, obtained by KSHB-TV, confirms the 51-year-old Navy veteran thought he had shot a pair of Middle Eastern men.

“OK, so I’m a bartender at Applebees and I had this guy come into my bar and he told me that he had done something really bad and he was on the run from the police, and he asked if he could stay with me and my husband,” the caller tells a dispatcher. “He wouldn’t tell me what he did. I kept asking him and he said he would tell me if I agreed to let him stay with me. I finally got him to tell me. He said he shot and killed two Iranian people in Olathe, and I looked it up on the news and there was this shooting like three hours ago…”

Madasani on Sunday called the shooting “an isolated incident that doesn’t reflect the true sprit of Kansas, the Midwest and the United States.”

“The United States of America, for us, has been one of selfless people, hardworking people…. What happened that night was something we all wish didn’t happen, but it happened.”