Olathe Police Sgt. Logan Bonney says the shooting happened around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday as people watched the Kansas-TCU basketball game at Austins Bar and Grill in southern Olathe, Kansas. He said one of the victims died at a hospital, and the conditions of the surviving victims weren’t immediately known.
Bonney says the 51-year-old suspect was taken into custody around 12:40 a.m. Thursday about 80 miles away in Clinton, Missouri. Authorities identified the suspect as Adam Purinton, who was being held in the Henry Co. Jail for 1st-degree murder.
The names of the victims weren’t immediately released.
Purinton allegedly told a bartender in Clinton that he had killed two Middle Eastern men and was looking for a place hide. The Kansas City Star quotes Assistant Clinton Police Chief Sonny Lynch saying a bartender called police after the man talked about being involved in a shooting.
At least one witness reportedly heard the suspect yell “get out of my country” shortly before shooting men he thought were Middle Eastern. Both men, engineers at Garmin, appear to be originally from India.
After the shooting, a helicopter was used to search for the suspect, while police told residents in the area to shelter in place.