27-year-old Indian woman among nine killed in mass shooting incident in US
Houston, May 8: A 27-year-old Indian woman, who was working in the US as a project engineer, was among nine people killed when a gunman opened fire at a crowded mall in Dallas in Texas, authorities said on Monday.
Aishwarya Thatikonda, of McKinney, was shopping with a friend when they were shot by gunman Mauricio Garcia at the Allen Premium Outlets in Dallas, the New York Post newspaper reported.
The shooting erupted around 3:30 pm on Saturday as throngs of shoppers filled the outdoor mall. The shooting killed at least eight people before Mauricio Garcia, a 33-year-old gunman, was shot dead by a police officer.
Aishwarya, daughter of a district judge in Ranga Reddy district court in India, worked as a project engineer at Perfect General Contractors LLC.
A family representative confirmed to the WFAA television station that Thatikonda was also among the dead from the senseless gun violence.
Aishwarya had spoken to her family members before the incident on Saturday, and when they called her back after learning about the shooting they did not get any response, according to the judge's friend.
"The family got the information about (her death) on Sunday. They are in shock. They have been told that efforts were being made to send her body by Wednesday," the judge's friend said.
She was an engineer living and working in Texas while her family was in India. Her friend, who was not identified, was injured but is currently in stable condition at the hospital, the paper said.
Thatikonda's family is planning to bring her body back to India, it added.
She did her civil engineering from a college in Hyderabad in India and completed her masters in the US after which she had been working there for more than two years.
Garcia, the gunman, was shot and killed by an officer who was patrolling the area.
A Dallas home linked to Garcia's parents was searched by police Saturday night after the massacre, and officials also scoured a motel where the shooter had booked an extended stay, law-enforcement sources told local outlet WFAA-TV.
In a statement about the shooting, the mall said, "We are horrified by the senseless tragedy at Allen Premium Outlets and are outraged by the violence that continues to plague our country.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and others affected by this heinous act. We are thankful for the Allen Police Officer's heroic actions and for the support of all the first responders."
So far there have been at least 198 mass shootings in the United States in 2023, according to the gun violence archive.
Saturday's tragedy occurred just a couple of weeks before the first anniversary of the Uvalle, Texas School massacre when 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
It comes just days after a gunman became enraged during a visit to an Atlanta medical facility, allegedly shooting dead at least one person with a handgun and injuring four others before he was caught hours later.
Saturday's incident is the second-deadliest shooting of the year in the country, after the Monterey Park, California, massacre in which a gunman killed 11 people in a ballroom on January 21.
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Uttarakhand signboards row: Civil society group writes to CM over 'discrimination' against Muslims
New Delhi, Sep 9: In the wake of objectionable signboards appearing at the entrances of villages in several areas of Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag, a civil society group comprising several retired civil servants and academics on Monday wrote to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami against alleged discrimination targeting Muslims.
Villagers in several areas of Rudraprayag district have put up signboards at the entrances of their villages, prohibiting the entry of outsiders.
Signboards had been put up in villages such as Sirsi, Rampur-Nyalsu, and others. Initially, the boards stated a ban on "non-Hindus", but the phrasing was later changed to "ban on outsiders" following police intervention, according to villagers.
The police, however, later said objectionable signboards have been removed.
"The signboards put up at six places in Guptkashi police station area were objectionable and have been withdrawn," Deputy Superintendent of Police Prabodh Kumar Ghildiyal said. People have been asked to maintain social harmony, he said.
In a letter to Dhami, Citizens for Fraternity said that as concerned citizens of the country they have watched with dismay, news coming out of various places in Uttarakhand of "discrimination against Muslims, many of whom have been residents for decades and owning businesses there".
The letter is signed by the likes of former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former AMU vice chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah, former MP Shahid Siddiqui and former IRS Syed Mahmood Akhter, among others.
The Constitution does not discriminate on religion, caste or region, the letter said.
It encourages Indians and does not debar them to travel to other states and set up businesses, which provides employment opportunities to local people and contribute towards the economy, the letter to Dhami said.
"It (putting up of signboards) depicts our country in poor light and offers an opportunity to those not amicable to us to criticise us. How can we aspire to be world leaders if such incidents continue and are not nipped in the bud. The perpetrators of hate, irrespective of religion, must to be booked and stringent action taken against them," the letter said.
"We believe that DMs and SPs in each district should be held accountable if no action is taken, the civil society group said.
