KOLKATA: Indian and South Asian holidayers who flock to
Virginia Beach
in the US every summer are likely to give this popular seaside resort a miss this year following Friday’s mass shooting in a municipal building. The indiscriminate firing by the gunman, described as a disgruntled civic employee, left 12 co-workers dead and at least four injured.
“There is a significant population of Indians and south Asians in Northern
Virginia
that prefer visiting Virginia Beach during the summer. But after this incident, visiting Virginia Beach is out of question. At least, this year. I think a lot of people, especially Indians may feel the same way for the time being,” said Rohit Kulkarni, who lives in Reston Virginia, around three-and-a-half hour’s drive from Virginia Beach.
The beach season in Virginia had just kicked off on Memorial Day last weekend.
Rohit, who originally hails from Pune, was unaware of the incident till a friend from
New Jersey
called. “We have been glued to the television since then, watching updates about this senseless and horrific incident. It was extremely shocking at many levels. Virginia Beach is a pretty quite and laid back place, nice family-friendly beach and we visit it often in summer,” he said.
Kanchan Mondal, a professor at Southern Illinios University in Carbondale, says the biggest issue is guns. “Why are guns allowed everywhere? Why should guns be allowed into an office. Unfortunately, Virginia is a gun-friendly state and such shootings have become common place, so much so that we tend to forget and get on with our lives within a day or two,” he said.
Bridgette Colaco, who grew up in Kolkata and now lives in
Florida
, shares his sentiment. “I have become used to seeing gun violence on the news. These shootouts don’t affect me any more. I don’t even feel afraid that it could happen in my area,” said communications professor Colaco, who studied and worked in Kolkata before migrating to the US about two decades ago.
In 2018, there were 47,220 gun-related incidents resulting in 11,984 deaths in the US, according to data compiled by Gun Violence Archive, an independent data-collection and research group. Nandini Bhattacharya, who works with the US Food and Drug Administration in Virginia, and drives down to Virginia Beach each summer, said it was unsettling to learn about the shooting.
“People are shaken. What’s even more disturbing is that the frequency of such incidents is going up. Innocent victims happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Local people are in general very warm and welcoming. The line between strangers and friends tend to easily blur when you start a conversation. Unfortunately, one is unaware where ill intentions are lurking,” she said.