No, not another one in New Orleans, but in North Carolina at Duke University. Sepia Mutiny reports that “on Friday night, a doctoral student [of Indian descent] in the engineering program at Duke University was shot to death in his off-campus apartment.” This comes on the heels of the murders of two Indian graduate students at LSU in Baton Rouge.
At first, I thought it the work of a new serial killer who targets Indian graduate students, but how silly (and way too specific) is that notion? What both cases have in common is that all three students lived in poorly-secured graduate student housing that are located in crime-ridden areas. If only the police and news outlets were more forthcoming about the investigation – was there also a robbery, any signs of a struggle or … anything? I hope this is when campuses begin to beef up security and living conditions at all student housing locations.
Not to put a racial spin on who’s to blame, but one SM commenter responded with a statistic that in this month alone, “there have been more than 30 robberies [in Durham] targeting Latino victims … including the fatal shooting of Doleres Gomez on Friday.” I’ve been mistaken for a Latina (by Latinos even) on many occasions. Is there a connection between these race-targeting crimes and the murder of an Indian in the same town?
My heart goes out to the grieving family of Abhijit Mahato and the still-mourning loved ones of Kiran Kumar Allam and Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma. To journey to a faraway land in search of an education and a better life only to be extinguished in a matter of seconds and in such a manner. How terrible. Rest in peace.
Another thing: You think we’ll hear these murders discussed on CourtTV and Nancy Grace?
