One Indian among Three Killed in Cincinnati Bank Shooting

Three people, including one Indian national, were killed when a gunman opened fire in the lobby of a bank in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday. The Indian was identified as 25-year old Pruthviraj Kandepi of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
The gunman, identified as Omar Enrique Santa Perez, 29, fired at people in Fifth Third Bank headquarters in Fountain Square on Sept.6 morning, killing three and injuring five others, said Cincinnati Police.

@CincyPD UPDATE: active shooter/officer involved shooting incident at Fifth Third Bank at 511 Walnut Street in lobby and loading dock. Call received at 9:10am. Five victims injured, three dead. Suspect is dead. Three or four officers responded and engaged the shooter. pic.twitter.com/AlRP6wTANw

— Cincinnati Police Department (@CincyPD) September 6, 2018

Kandepi was a consultant with Fifth Third Bank, which owns the 30-story Fifth Third Center building where the shooting happened. Quoting Sandeep Chakravorty, India’s Consul General in New York, news agency PTI said that the consulate was in touch with Kandepi’s family, police, and community members.

Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco released the names of the three victims in her Facebook post saying “One of the victims was an Indian gentleman I met at the Hindu temple of Cincinnati. How do you tell parents who live 10000 miles away that they will never see their son again because of a senseless shooting in a foreign country?”
The other two victims were identified as Luis Felipe Calderon (48) and Richard Newcomer (64).

Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said that the police got a call at 9.10 am about a shooting incident in the building’s lobby. Police officers responded swiftly and shot dead the shooter.

Issac told journalists in a press conference that the attacker had multiple magazines and a significant amount of ammunition, which could have proved more devastating. He thanked his officers for responding to this shooting incident and averting further damage.

He said, “I want to praise the responding officers to this active shooter incident for their bravery and heroic actions who stopped this shooter before his rampage continued to cause harm.”

Acting City Manager Patrick Duhaney said on the day shooting happened, “My thoughts are with the families and friends of those affected by the incident that occurred this morning. This is a true tragedy.”