Hyderabad Student Shot in Face in Chicago, Family Seeks Govt Help

The student has been identified as 30-year-old Mohammed Akbar from Meerpet in Hyderabad.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

A student from Hyderabad is undergoing treatment at a hospital in the United States, after he was shot on Saturday morning, 10 December, in Chicago.

The incident is reported to have occurred in the Albany Park neighbourhood, when the student, identified as 30-year-old Mohammed Akbar from Meerpet in Hyderabad, was walking towards his car. According to Akbar’s father, Mohammed Yousuf, the student was allegedly shot after an argument broke out with the unidentified assailants at a parking lot. Akbar’s family members have requested the Government of India to help them.

Locals rushed to Akbar's help after hearing the gunshot, and took him to the nearest hospital, reportedly.

Akbar was reportedly shot in the cheek. The police is yet to issue a statement, and further details are awaited. Akbar’s family said that he was pursuing master’s in computer systems networking and telecommunications. The family has now applied for an emergency visa.

Incidentally, this is not the first such incident in the US, this year alone.

In June this year, a 23-year-old man from Telangana was in critical condition after being shot by an unidentified person in California. Mubeen Ahmed, a resident of Sangareddy district in Telangana, had gone to California, USA in February 2015 to pursue his Masters in Engineering.

According to his relative, Mubeen, who used to work in a department store there, had been shot twice in the stomach by an unidentified man on the evening of 4 June in the store.

In February, a youth from Telangana was shot and killed near his apartment by unidentified gunmen in California. The victim was identified as V Vamshi Reddy (27), and his family in Warangal Urban district was informed.

Vamshi had gone to the US in 2015, and had just completed his master’s, when he was shot.

However, the most infamous case occurred in the same month, Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed and his colleague Alok Madasani injured in a shooting at a bar in Olathe, Kansas.

Adam Purinton (51), was charged with first-degree murder in the February shooting that killed 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla. He also faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder for wounding Alok Madasani and American man Ian Grillot.

According to prosecutors, Purinton targeted Kuchibhotla and another Indian man because of their race or ethnicity. He reportedly got into an argument with the victims and hurled racial slurs saying, “get out of my country” and “terrorist” before shooting them. The third man was shot when he tried to help the two victims.

The incident led to several vigils for the victims and the Indian American community in Olathe as well as throughout the country.

(This was first published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)