Unidentified assailants have shot dead a 26-year-old Indian software engineering student at a grocery store where he was working as a part-time employee in the US.
Arun Kumar Narote, who hails from Hyderabad, was gunned down Monday night at the grocery store at Bridgeport in Connecticut where he was working
as a part-time employee.
A MS (software engineering) student at Stratford University in Virginia, Narote came to the US after earning his B.Tech from Indra Reddy Memorial Engineering College in Hyderabad.
Likely to graduate with MS in couple of months, he lived in Bridgeport.
He attended Stratford University in weekends and had been working part time jobs in Cambridge, Connecticut to support his educational expenses, said the Telugu Association of North America.
According to preliminary reports, two masked men walked in to "Norman Grocery Store" in Bridgeport, where Arun Kumar was working as a store clerk, robbed the cash and shot him in the head though there was no resistance found.
Police are still investigating the case for further details.
He is survived by parents Dhondiba Rao (a retired Teacher), mother Sakhuntala and elder brothers Avinash, Amar and elder sister. His family lives in Karwan area in Hyderabad.
"This is a very unfortunate inident though Arun Kumar was working from a Bullet proof cabin, one of the thieves jumped in to the cabin through a gap, robbed the cash and shot him in the head though he was not resisting and willing to give away the whole cash register," said Prasad Thotakura of the Telugu Association on North America.
"We can understand the financial stress that these students face to support their education and living expenses but certainly these types of
places to be avoided and shouldn't put their lives at risk," said Thotakura, who is working with the Cambridge Police Department, Indian Consulate Office and Funeral Home to expedite the process.
Jayaram Komati, TANA President, expressed his deepest condolences on behalf of TANA to Narote family and appreciated TANA Team Square volunteers
for their immediate action to help the family.
The local Connecticut Post said this was Bridgeport's 13th homicide victim this year, surpassing last year's total of 12 homicides.
"He was living here with friends and working in the small grocery store to earn money for school," Police Capt, James Viadero was quoted as saying.
No arrest has been made so far.
According to Viadero, Kamur was working behind a plexiglass enclosure when two men, wearing hooded sweatshirts, entered the store.
"He said while one of the men pointed a handgun at the victim through an opening in the enclosure, the second man squeezed through the slot onto Kamur's side. The man then grabbed the cash register and headed out of the enclosure through the door," the newspaper said.
"At that point the other man shot the victim. From what we can see on the surveillance video in the store, the victim had not offered any
resistance," Viadero said, adding that they are attempting to enhance the video to try to identify the suspects.
The newspaper said that death of the popular shop clerk stunned a number of people, who said the act goes brutally beyond what they characterised as the normal unsavouriness that has crept into the neighbourhood.