Indian-Origin Motel Manager Fatally Shot After Checking on Disturbance in Pittsburgh

A police detective sustained injuries during the shooting incident.

Pennsylvania:

Last week in Pittsburgh, United States, a 51-year-old Indian-origin motel manager named Rakesh Ehagaban was fatally shot at point-blank range. According to a criminal complaint published in local media, Ehagaban, who managed the Pittsburgh Motel in Robinson Township, was shot in the head when he stepped outside to investigate a disturbance.

The incident occurred on Friday. Police reported that the suspect, 37-year-old Stanley Eugene West, shot Ehagaban when the manager approached him while attempting to intervene in an alleged dispute outside the motel.

Authorities stated that the motel's surveillance cameras documented the shooting. The footage showed that Ehagaban exited the building after hearing commotion outside. He approached a man holding a gun and asked, "Are you alright, bud?"

The suspect began walking toward Ehagaban. When he came within a few feet of the motel manager, he raised his firearm and shot him in the head, according to Trib Live, a local publication, citing the police complaint.

Ehagaban died immediately at the scene.

Police reported that West also shot a female companion outside the motel and later exchanged gunfire with police officers who tracked him to the East Hills of Pittsburgh after he fled the motel.

West was wounded during the gunfight with police and transported to a hospital in critical condition. He faces charges of criminal homicide, attempted homicide, and recklessly endangering another person.

The woman who was also shot during the incident was hospitalized in critical condition. A police detective was injured during the exchange of gunfire and has been admitted to a hospital as well.

According to police, the suspect had been staying at the Pittsburgh Motel, where the woman had been a guest for the past two weeks. She was residing there with a child. On Friday, as the woman attempted to drive away from the motel in her black sedan, West approached the driver's side door and shot at the vehicle, shattering the driver's door window.

A bullet struck the woman in the neck. The child, who was sitting in the back seat, was unharmed. The shooting prompted Ehagaban to come outside the motel, where he confronted the gunman who then shot him dead.

The criminal complaint stated that a moving van was parked in the lot next to the black sedan, and "after shooting Ehagaban, the actor (West) nonchalantly walks to the van and drives away."

Meanwhile, despite her injury, the woman managed to drive to an automobile service center, where police found her. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Police later tracked West's van using license plate reading cameras. When officers approached him, West exited the van and began shooting.

"The detectives returned fire," stated Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns on Friday. Both West and a Pittsburgh detective were shot during the exchange of gunfire.