The seemingly random shooting death of Chinese Citizen Xindong Hao in Kansas City on Wednesday will do little to to enhance the city’s reputation as a friendly port of call for foreign visitors. This murder follows the killing of Indian grad student Sharath Koppu during a robbery at a restaurant on Kansas City’s east side by less than a month.
Hao was in the United States on a visa with his American-born wife and four small children. They arrived on Monday. Hao was here to study at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in south Kansas City. He was taking a walk near the IHOP when 18-year-old Curtrail Hudson fired at him point blank several times with a shotgun for no apparent reason. Hudson then beat the fallen Hao with the butt of his gun.
Reportedly high on PCP, Hudson shot two other people, neither critically, as he walked down Bridge Manor Drive. The third victim was in a truck that Hudson ran after, shooting as he ran.
Hudson had called his family before the shooting. When his relatives came to pick him up he apparently got into a fight with one of them who restrained Hudson until police arrived on the scene.
According to his friends, Hao was a devoted evangelist for Christ, which in China can be a dangerous business. At least one Chinese citizen the Kansas City Star interviewed chose not to give a name lest the Chinese government retaliate. One friend described Hao as a “fisher of men.”
Hudson was taken into custody Wednesday night and charged with second degree murder as well as multiple other felonies. He was not charged with a hate crime. There was no suggestion of “hate” in the Star article. As to the cause of the crime, the Star gave the last word to a Chinese friend of Hao’s, “I think the recent incidents are a matter of a gun problem.”