An Indian man was killed after getting caught in a crossfire outside a motel in the US state of Tennessee on Monday when about 30 shots went off.
Khandu Patel, who worked as a housekeeper at Americas Best Value Inn and Suites in Whitehaven, becomes the latest victim from the Indian community to be killed in the country since February.
Patel, 56, was killed by a stray bullet when he was standing at the back of the motel and he died at the Regional Medical Center.
A father of two, Patel had worked at the inn for about eight months. His wife and children lived at the motel with him.
“He finished his day’s work and was out walking around the property. Next thing you know he hears some gunshots and one caught him in the chest,” Jay Patel, the victim’s nephew, was quoted as saying by the report.
He added that the family was ready to shift to another location for a new job.
“He was ready to get out of there,” said Jay Patel. “Just trying to put food on the table so he had to take what he had at the time.”
Investigators have put up flyers all over the motel asking for information about the killer, which notes there is a Crime Stoppers reward.
Patel’s nephew is asking anyone with information to come forward help the family get justice, the report added.
On February 22, Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed when a US Navy veteran opened fire at him and his friend before yelling “get out of my country” in Kansas.
Harnish Patel, a 43-year-old Indian-origin store owner, was found dead of gunshot wounds in the front yard of his home in Lancaster, South Carolina, in early March.
On March 23, Sasikala Narra (38) and her son Anish Narra (6) were found dead inside their apartment in New Jersey.