Donald Trump should mention Kansas shooting in State of the Union address: Ian Grillot

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Ian Grillot, the American hero who bravely tried to take down the racist shooter at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, last Thursday, Adam Purinton, after he took the life of an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and injured another Indian engineer Alok Reddy Madasani, hopes that President Donald Trump will mention the dastardly act in his address to Congress Tuesday night.

Grillot, who was shot in an arm and his chest, is recovering from his wounds at the University of Kansas Hospital. He has been lauded for his courage and selfless act.

In an interview to the Kansas City Star, Grillot didn’t term the shooting as a “hate Crime”, but said “He (Purinton) went directly toward those men. I can’t say it, but it seems pretty obvious what it was.”

Grillot said he would like President Trump to mention the shooting in his address to Congress Tuesday night.

“It would be nice for some kind of closure,” he said.

Purinton is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kuchibhotla, 32, who was working on an H-1B visa for Garmin.

The FBI is investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

Grillot, dressed in a hospital gown and speaking in a voice made raspy from his wounds, addressed worldwide media Tuesday at 11 a.m., shortly after the funeral for Kuchibhotla ended Tuesday in India. Madasani was released from the hospital Thursday.

Grillot said he was overwhelmed by the international attention he has gotten since word spread that he jumped at the shooter to stop any more carnage.

He rejected the label “hero,” saying he was just doing what was right.

“We’re humans,” he said. “We should stick up for each other. We’re all we’ve got in this world.”

He urged people to turn away from hatred.

“Life is too short,” he said. “There is no reason for all the hate.”

The BBC reported that Purinton, 51, who appeared in court on Monday, allegedly told a barmaid he had just opened fire on some “Iranian people”.

After the attack at Austins Bar and Grill, Purinton drove 70 miles to an Applebee’s in Clinton, Missouri, where he allegedly admitted what he had done to an employee.