At least four crowdfunding campaigns started to raise funds for the families of the three victims of the Kansas bar shooting recently, including two Indians, have managed to collect over $1 million till now.
Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an engineer from Hyderabad, was killed, whereas his colleague Alok Madasani, hailing from Warangal town, was injured in the shooting. Adam W Purinton, a US Navy veteran, shot them at the Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, Kansas state, on Wednesday night.
A third person, Ian Grillot, who tried to stop the gunman from shooting, was also injured in the incident.
The campaigns started on GoFundMe have received 26,000 donations till now from at least 38 countries, The Kansas City Star reported.
The four campaigns are each for Srinivas, which has raised $603,826, a joint one for Srinivas and Alok, which has raised $87,492, a medical relief fund for Alok, which has got donations of $14,403, and one for Ian, which has got $363,714 at the time of writing this piece.
Speaking to the American media, Srinivas's wife Sunayana Dumala said, "He did not deserve a death like this. In two weeks, he would've celebrated his 33rd birthday...I don't know what to say. We've read many times in newspapers of some kind of shooting happening everywhere and I was always concerned if we were doing the right thing by staying in the US."
"He always assured me that only good things happen to good people...He was just enjoying a glass of beer with his friends. This guy (suspect) started saying discriminatory things about his (Srinivas') race. He was still minding his own business," she added.
Srinivas's body will arrive in Hyderabad on Monday.
Meanwhile, the families of both Srinivas and Alok have blamed the policies of President Donald Trump for the incident.
While parents of Srinivas were too shocked to speak, his relatives said the action of the former Navy serviceman was a result of Trump's policies.
"It shows Trump is the prime reason," said Srinivas' cousin R Sastry while talking to reporters at the engineer's house at Bachupally on the outskirts of Hyderabad.