A 25-year-old student from Mysuru was shot dead on Thursday by an unidentified gunman inside a hotel in California, PTI reported. Abhishek Sudhesh Bhat, who studied computer science at the California State University in San Bernardino, worked part-time at the hotel.

Bhat’s family got a call around 11.30 pm on Thursday informing them about the incident, reported Star of Mysore. The call was made by the person who came for the shift after Bhat’s at the hotel.

According to the family, Bhat had spoken to his father on phone just 15 minutes before the incident. Bhat’s cousin Srivatsa said the family had decided to perform the last rites in California itself as the autopsy and legal procedure might take some time, PTI reported.

The family had initially tried to bring back Bhat’s body, but was facing problems because of a storm in San Bernardino, located about 100 km east from Los Angeles. They had also approached Mysuru MP Pratap Simha and Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar to bring back Bhat’s body, reported Deccan Herald.

The motive behind Bhat’s murder is not clear. “We have contacted US Consulate and the Indian High Commission for more details and as of now there is no clear information about the incident and why Abhishek was shot dead,” a family member was quoted as saying.

A resident of Kuvempunagar in Mysuru, Bhat had moved to California for his post-graduation course two years ago. He had four months left to complete his degree.