NEWCASTLE, WASHINGTON: In a tragic incident on April 24, an Indian-origin tech entrepreneur allegedly shot and killed his wife and teenage son before turning the gun on himself at their home in Newcastle, Washington.
The deceased have been identified as Harshavardhana S. Kikkeri, 57, his wife Shwetha Panyam, 44, and their 14-year-old son. According to The Renton Reporter, the family had been residing in the United States for several years.
Deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call that evening and found all three bodies inside the family’s townhouse on 129th Street SE. Shwetha and the couple’s son were pronounced dead from gunshot wounds, and their deaths were ruled homicides. Harshavardhana died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which was classified as a suicide.
The motive behind the killings remains unknown. A younger son survived the incident and was not physically harmed.
Originally from Kikkeri village in Karnataka’s Mandya district, Harshavardhana was the former CEO of HoloWorld, a robotics and AI startup based in Mysuru. He co-founded the company with his wife in 2017 after returning briefly to India, though the company shut down in 2022.
The incident has shocked the local community. “A young family lived in the home,” neighbor Cathy Dunbar told KOMO News, expressing disbelief. Deputies remained on the scene into the early hours of the following morning.
Harshavardhana was a graduate of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering in Mysuru and had previously worked at Microsoft in the U.S., where he specialized in robotics.
