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Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12

The Latest: Neighbor says alleged shooter was ‘drunken mess’

This Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, photo provided by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Olathe, Kan., shows Adam Purinton, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the Wednesday night shooting at a crowded bar in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe. One man was killed and two were injured in the shooting. (Johnson County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, photo provided by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Olathe, Kan., shows Adam Purinton, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the Wednesday night shooting at a crowded bar in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe. One man was killed and two were injured in the shooting. (Johnson County Sheriff's Office via AP) This Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, photo provided by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Olathe, Kan., shows Adam Purinton, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the Wednesday night shooting at a crowded bar in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe. One man was killed and two were injured in the shooting. (Johnson County Sheriff's Office via AP)

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) – The Latest on a deadly shooting at a Kansas bar that some witnesses said was racially motivated (all times local):

11:25 a.m.

A longtime neighbor of a Kansas man accused of shooting three people at a bar says the man was a heavy drinker who deteriorated after his father died about 18 months ago.

Andy Berthelsen said Saturday that Adam Purinton became “a drunken mess” and bounced among menial jobs over the past year.

Berthelsen says that in his 15 years as Purinton’s neighbor in Olathe (Oh-LAY-thuh), Kansas, he doesn’t recall Purinton making racist remarks or talking about politics.