- Wednesday, April 30, 2025
The deceased have been identified as Harshavardhana Kikkeri, his wife Shwetha Panyam, and son Dhruva Kikkeri
By: India Weekly
IN a shocking incident, three members of an Indian-origin family in the US were found dead after a shooting at their home in Newcastle in Washington state, according to local media reports.
The tragic incident took place on April 24, and the dead were identified as Harshavardhana Kikkeri, 44, Shwetha Panyam, 41, and Dhruva Kikkeri, 14.
The local police have ruled the deaths of Shwetha and Dhruva died as homicide, and Harshavardhana died by suicide.
According to reports, the couple’s younger son, aged 7, survived as he was outside the house at the time of the incident.
The police arrived around 7 pm, responding to a 911 call, and detectives found blood smeared on the front window and a single hollow-point bullet in the street.
The motive of the crime is yet to be ascertained.
King County sheriff’s spokesperson Brandyn Hull said she could not comment on whether the case was believed to be a murder-suicide.
No information regarding the motive or relationships among the deceased was released by the sheriff’s office, according to the report.
Harshavardhana was a tech entrepreneur and alongside Shwetha had found an India-based AI tech company Holoworld.
According to the company’s website, it was founded in 2018, with Harshavardhana serving as the CEO and CTO, and Shwetha as president.
Harshavardhana had earlier earned a Master’s in electrical engineering from Syracuse University and worked at Microsoft.
He had given a TEDx Talk on robotics that was uploaded on YouTube in 2019.
