An Indian student shot dead in North America
Washington: Elaprolu Jayachandra, an Indian student was shot dead by unidentified robbers early Sunday at the store in Pasadena in Texas where he was working. The 22 year old was shot five times, the Houston Chronicle reported. He basically belonged to Andhra Pradesh.
The incident took place between 2 am and 3 am local time Dec 25. A man in a ski mask shot Jayachandra and took the cash register, Pasadena police spokesman Bud Corbett was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle. A manager at the store, Ali Kahn, said the victim had been working at the store for less than a month.
The boy’s family received the shocking news in Andhra Pradesh from his friends late night on Saturday. A storm of sorrows came into the Jayachandra’s house in Vijayawada city of Krishna district. Relatives and friends poured in to console parents and family members of the dead.
Jayachandra gone to US in July and was doing his Masters in computers, he took up a part-time job as a clerk at the gas station store only a month ago.
Nageswara Rao told reporters in Vijayawada, “We were told that a black man barged into the gas station, shot at my son and escaped with the money. But we also received another version that the man was not black. Whoever he may be, he is a criminal.”
The newspaper said, Police distributed the surveillance video from the store to local media outlets in an attempt to find witnesses. The CCTV footage obtained by the police showed a masked man entering the gas station, shooting the clerk and taking away the cash register.
Jayachandra was able to get behind a door that opened to a small office behind the counter. However, he appears to have been shot through the door.
Association of North America (TANA) has promised to help the family in making the arrangements, so that Jayachandra’s body would be flown home in couple of days.
During the last three years as many as 12 Telugu students and techies were murdered in the United States.
(News Editor- Naushin Fatima Khan)
