Kansas Bar Shooting: Meet Ian Grillot, Who Took Bullets for Two Indians

As a drunk Kansas man spewed racial slurs and pumped bullets into two Indian techies in a crowded suburban bar earlier this week, one American tried to take him on: Ian Grillot, who is now being hailed a hero by the diaspora.

In a video released by the University of Kansas Hospital, Grillot described how he first ducked for cover and then went after the killer .

"I got up and proceeded to chase him down, try to subdue him," Grillot said in a video released by the University of Kansas Hospital. "I got behind him and he turned around and fired a round at me."

Grillot, 24, said that the bullet went through his hand and into his chest, just missing a major artery.

"It's not about where he (victim) was from or his ethnicity," Grillot said. "We're all humans, so I just did what was right to do."

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The message was not lost , coming from a country where hate crimes have been on the up ever since Donald Trump rode to power on an hyper-nationalist wave.

A bartender at Austins Bar and Grill in the Kansas suburb of Olathe said Adam Purinton used "racial slurs" before he started shooting at the two Indians who were watching a basketball game on television.

"From what I understand when he was throwing racial slurs at the two gentlemen (Kuchibhotla and Madasani), Ian (Grillot) stood up for them," bartender Garret Bohnen told the Kansas City Star. "We're all proud of him."

Purington, 51, who was later picked up from another bar 70 miles away, said he mistook them for “Middle Easterners”.

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Media reports quoted employees at the Kansas bar describing Grillot as a calm guy who defuses tense situations.

Grillot now considers Alok his new best friend and has expressed the hope that they can spend some time together. "I don't think it's going to be at the bar, though," he told The Kansas City Star.

(With inputs from Associated Press)