Karthik Rajaram was a former employee of PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Sony Pictures in Southern California, but had been unemployed for a few months. He committed suicide, after killing his family — his wife, mother-in-law, and three children aged 19, 12 and 7. It is unfortunate that this Indian-American resorted to guns, reinforcing the notion that guns and violence, too, are as American as the oft-repeated apple pie and mom.When I went to India later in December, a high school classmate said he was Karthik Rajaram's college-mate during their undergrad years at IIT-Madras.
Now, another such incident--this time in Northern California:
The police identified some of the victims of a murder-suicide that left six people dead in Santa Clara but were still trying to uncover a motive. The police said that on Sunday night, Devan Kalathat, 42, an engineer at Yahoo, fatally shot his 11-year-old son and his 4-year-old daughter and wounded his 34-year-old wife. Before committing suicide, Mr. Kalathat also killed his brother-in-law, Ashok Appu Poothemkandi, 35, a Hewlett-Packard employee; Mr. Poothemkandi’s wife, Suchitra Sivaraman, 25; and the couple’s 11-month-old daughter.In Rajaram's case, it seemed like his worsening financial situation might have contributed to his going beserk. In this recent incident, the motive is not clear at this stage. Tragic ....
As we get deeper into spring, we will all be reminded of Columbine and Virginia Tech. I hope we will not experience anymore such tragedies.
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