ASTHA PANDEY/VOIWORLD
An Indian-origin motel manager from Gujarat was shot dead outside a motel in the Pittsburgh (US) after he stepped out to investigate a disturbance in the parking area.
The victim is identified as Rakesh Ehagaban (also known as Rakesh Patel), who used to work at the Pittsburgh Motel in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. Ehagaban hailed from Rayam village near Bardoli in Gujarat’s Surat district, where his death has shocked the local community. The Indian consulate is in contact with the victim’s family and local authorities to facilitate the further procedures.
Rakesh’s family had always spoken of America as a land of opportunity where hard work meant progress, where a small motel could be the foundation of a better life. But little to what one might expect, Rakesh who has spent decades there, building that dream one shift at a time.
“He was always the first to help someone,” a family friend told local reporters. “He wasn’t a man who fought. He asked if people were okay.” Referring to the CCTV footage during the incident, the victim was seen approaching the suspect, inquiring about the shooting noise he heard before and asking, “Are you alright,
bud?” where the suspect then shot at him within the close range.
According to US police, the suspect, Stanley Eugene West, had earlier shot a woman in the neck before fatally shooting Ehagaban. The injured woman remains in critical condition. During the arrest a police detective was also injured in the exchange of gunfire. West got injured and then eventually captured and is currently hospitalized in critical condition.
This shocking incident also reveals that the victim here didn’t die of gun violence or as a motel manager who was an immigrant. But about human decency in the face of danger, about how an instinct to help a stranger can reveal both the best and the worst of humanity. He died as a man who cared, even for a stranger holding a gun.
The incident follows a similar case last month in Dallas, Texas, where another Indian-origin motel manager, Chandra Mouli “Bob” Nagamallaiah, was killed in a violent attack, raising safety concerns among Indian nationals working in the hospitality sector across the United States.
