A US Navy veteran charged with killing Indian software engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and injuring two others at a bar in Kansas City last year, pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder on Tuesday.

Adam Purinton, 52, pleaded guilty before a Kansas court.

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He was charged with first-degree murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of his friend, Alok Madasani, and a bystander, who chased Purinton after he fled the Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe city on February 22, last year.

Kuchibhotla and Madasani worked as engineers at Garmin, a tech company that makes GPS devices.

Puriton had earlier pleaded not guilty on all these charges and waived his preliminary hearing in late November 2017.

Before allowing Purinton’s plea, Judge Charles Droege explained to him that changing his plea meant he would face life in prison, as well as a minimum of 146 months, maximum of 653 months in prison for attempted murder, not to mention the sentence he’ll face if convicted of a hate crime in federal court.

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According to court documents, Purinton’s plea hearing was originally scheduled for 8 May but later it was moved to 6 March.

Witnesses said Purinton yelled at the two Indian men to “get out of my country” before pulling the trigger. He had reportedly said that he had shot two Iranians after shooting the Indians.

Earlier, Federal prosecutors had alleged that Purinton committed offences after substantial planning and premeditation, attempted to kill more than one person in a single criminal episode, and knowingly created a grave risk of death to others on the scene.

Purinton faces a maximum penalty of death or life in prison.

Kuchibhotla’s widow welcomed the guilty plea.

“Today’s guilty verdict will not bring back my Srinu, but it will send a strong message that hate is never acceptable,” she said in a statement.

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In January 2018, Sunayana Dumala, the wife of Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla was invited to attend US President Donald Trump’s maiden State of the Union address.

Ms Dumala, 32, fell out of status because her permission to reside in the US was tied to Kuchibhotla through marriage but she managed to regain her residency status.

She was invited by Congressman Kevin Yoder to attend Trump’s State of the Union address, an annual message presented by the US president to a joint session of the Congress.

(With agency inputs)