INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sharath Koppu was from Telangana's Warangal and moved to US this year.Kansas City/Hyderabad: A 25-year-old student from Telangana was shot
dead in a restaurant in Kansas City in the United States on Friday evening
The incident in Missouri was described as an armed robbery and the police have launched a manhunt for the suspect
Sharath Koppu, who studied at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and worked at the restaurant, had moved to the United States earlier
this year.The police said Sharath was working at the restaurant when was shot around 7 pm local time
They found him lying in a pool of blood when they arrived on the scene
He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.Witnesses TheIndianSubcontinent spoke to said Sharath was shot in the back trying
to run from the would-be robber
"The others ducked behind the counter but Sharath turned around and began to run in the opposite direction when the gunman opened fire
Sharath was shot in the back and soon fell to the ground," Shahid, who runs the restaurant J's Fish and Chicken Market, said.On Saturday,
the police released a surveillance video of the suspected shooter seen in a brown and white striped shirt
In a tweet, they asked anyone with information to call on 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477
The police are offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to charges in the murder.Sharath grew up in Telangana's Warangal
district and graduated from an engineering college
He had moved to the US for a master's degree after leaving his job as a software engineer in Hyderabad.Sharath's family was informed of his
death on Saturday and has contacted Telangana's NRI minister KT Rama Rao, seeking help in getting the body back
Indian consulate officials in Chicago have also promised all help in getting the body back to India.Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj
tweeted:Raghu Chowdavaram, who describes himself as Sharath's cousin, has set up a crowdfunding campaign to send financial help for Sharath
Koppu's family in Warangal
By Sunday, the campaign had collected over $45,000.Sharath Koppu had just moved to the US after leaving his job as a software
engineer"Sharath is known to his family and friends as full of dreams, cheerful, energetic and athletic
He had the same dreams like everyone else to make it BIG in the land of opportunity
He had a great sense of humour, and always made people laugh and was always eager to lend a helping hand," the page read.The incident comes
a year after another Indian techie from Hyderabad, 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla, was killed at a bar in Kansas City in a racially
motivated hate crime.A US Navy veteran, Adam W Purinton, who shot Srinivas Kuchibhotla on February 22, 2017, after shouting "Get out of my
country", was sentenced to life in May this year.
