Indian killed in Cincinnati shooting, family says was planning 25-yr-old’s marriage on return

Kandepi Pruthvi Raj, a 25-year old financial consultant from Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district who was killed after a gunman opened fire in a bank in Cincinnati in the US on Thursday, was expected to return to India once his marriage was arranged, relatives said.

The family received the information about Pruthvi death from the officials of the US embassy on Friday morning. His father Kandepi Gopinath is a deputy executive engineer in the Andhra Pradesh Housing Corporation head office at Tadepalli in Guntur district. His mother Sudha Rani is a home maker.

A relative told the local media in Hyderabad that the parents were in a state of shock. “The parents were in search of a suitable alliance for Pruthvi and he was expected to come to India once the marriage is settled,” he said.

Pruthvi from Chenchupeta village of Tenali town in the district working as a financial consultant in the Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, was returning from the bank when the gunman opened fire at the foundation square in the downtown. He was one of the three persons killed in the firing which left two others injured.

Police shot dead the gunman identified as 29-year-old Omar Enrique Santa Perez.

Pruthvi went to the US six years ago. He had completed his post-graduation and was working as a financial consultant in a bank in Cincinnati.

According to his relatives, Pruthvi Raj studied up to Class X in Tenali town and Intermediate in a corporate college in Vijayawada city. He completed his B Tech in Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) at Vellore in Tamil Nadu. Later he went to US to pursue M.S and got bank job. He had been working as financial consultant in the Fifth Third bank for the last three- years.

The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) is coordinating with the local authorities to complete the formalities and send the body to his native place. His body is expected to reach here within three or four days.

In July, Sharath Koppu, a 26-year old student from Telangana was fatally shot at a restaurant at Kansas City in Missouri state during a robbery.