India House flooded with new support after $100,000 gift to man who intervened in bar shooting

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Ian Grillot, second from the left, accepted a $100,000 gift from Houston’s India House.

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India House received a flood of goodwill after its highly publicized $100,000 donation to a man who intervened in a bar shooting.

Houston’s India House has been overwhelmed with a flood of supportive letters and gifts since last month’s $100,000 donation to a Kansas man who tried to save two immigrants targeted in a bar shooting in February.

Hundreds of kind notes – some including unsolicited donations – have poured in, further boosting the funding set aside for Ian Grillot.

“Good always wins over evil, and these messages of appreciation from places and faces far away from Houston demonstrate clearly that the America, I know is full of good people,” said India House gala chair Jiten Agarwal. “We will continue building bridges between communities.”

Grillot, 24, was hailed as a hero after he intervened on Feb. 22 when a Kansas man reportedly shouted “get out of my country” before opening fire at Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, killing one man and wounding Grillot and another.

DONATION: Houston’s India House honors man who intervened in Kansas bar shooting

At the end of last month, Houstonians gathered to honor Grillot during the annual India House gala, which drew a slew of local politicians and well-known community members, including Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, star chef Vikas Khanna, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Navtej Sarna and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

“I applaud what the Indian community has achieved,” Dr. Anupam Ray, consulate general of India, said in a statement Monday.

“It has transformed the narrative and demonstrated that it is a community that represents the best both in America and India.”

The new wave of donations has netted just a few hundred dollars, but also an outpouring of supportive notes.

“I’m a teacher in Oregon, and have so many students with diverse backgrounds,” one person wrote. “When I heard about the shooting I just kept thinking how it could’ve been one of my sweet students, or their families, and was filled with grief and rage. Your incredible gesture brought hope and reassurance.”

Strangers from Florida to Los Angeles echoed the sentiment with their own heartfelt words.

Although Grillot survived the shooting with injuries, 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed. A third man, 32-year-old Alok Madasani was also wounded.

The chaos unfolded after 51-year-old Adam Purinton confronted the two Indian men in the bar, asking whether their “status was legal,” according to an affidavit released last month.

Purinton left after Grillot and another person confronted him. But 30 minutes later he returned with a weapon and opened fire, prosecutors say.

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Grillot jumped in and started chasing the gunman, thinking the he was out of ammunition.

But he was wrong and Purinton shot him once.

“I don’t know if I could’ve lived with myself if I wouldn’t have stopped or attempted to stop the shooter because that would’ve been completely devastating,” Grillot said later in a statement.

Authorities collared Purinton hours later at an Applebee’s 70 miles away in Clinton, Missouri.

After his arrest, Purinton was jailed in Johnson County, Kansas, on $2 million bond. The FBI is investigating the case as a hate crime.