A tragic shooting in Pittsburgh has claimed the life of an Indian-origin motel manager.
Fifty-one-year-old Rakesh Ehagaban, who managed the Pittsburgh Motel in Robinson Township, stepped outside last Friday night after hearing a disturbance. When he approached the scene, he calmly asked a man holding a gun, “Are you alright, bud?”
The gunman, identified as 37-year-old Stanley Eugene West, walked up to Rakesh and shot him in the head at close range. Rakesh died instantly. Surveillance footage later confirmed the shocking attack.
Before this, West had opened fire on a woman outside the motel. She was trying to leave in her car with her child when West shot through the driver’s side window. The woman was critically injured, but her child escaped unharmed. Despite being shot in the neck, she managed to drive to a nearby auto service centre for help.
After killing Rakesh, West drove away in a moving van. Police tracked him using licence plate cameras. When officers tried to stop him, West fired again. In the gunfight that followed, West was critically injured and a detective was also shot.
West now faces charges of criminal homicide, attempted homicide, and reckless endangerment.
