‘We called her Rowdy’: Friends mourn Aishwarya Thatikonda’s death in Texas shooting

Hyderabad: School friends used to call Aishwarya Thatikonda “Rowdy” for her courage and bold personality. She always stepped forward to help her friends, whether it was to clear backlogs or donate money for their NGOs.

Shocked by the death of 27-year-old Aishwarya Thatikonda, an engineer from Hyderabad who was killed in a shootout in Texas, her school and college friends are sharing old memories on social media.

Her friends took on Twitter requesting IT minister KTR to help in bringing back the mortal remains of Aishwarya soon.

What happened in Texas?

· On 6 May, Saturday, Aishwarya and her friend Shreyas went shopping to Allen Mall in Texas, which is about 25 miles north of Dallas and has more than 120 stores.

· At around 3.30 p.m., a gunman opened fire at the crowded mall, killing at least eight people before being shot dead by a police officer.

· As the shootout began, hundreds of shoppers tried to escape, while many scrambled into storage areas and hid when they heard gunshots.

· While Aishwariya died on the spot with bullets on her face, her friend Shreyas who was injured is receiving treatment at McKinney Medical.

· The US police, who couldn’t identify Aishwarya’s face, identified her through fingerprints.

· Her parents and friends knew of her death on Monday morning. Aishwarya’s father suffered fits after hearing news of his daughter’s death.

Aishwarya’s last visit home

Aishwarya, who is the elder daughter of a judge serving in a court in Ranga Reddy district, lived in Saroornagar, Hyderabad. She last visited Hyderabad in May 2022 for her brother’s wedding.

A helpful soul

Aishwarya, who finished school and college at Narayana Olympiad in Kothapeta, was a helpful person. She was a graduate from Osmania University in 2018. While she was not interested in going to the US, she went there for better opportunities in civil engineering. She was working in Dallas as a project engineer for more than two years.

“She is one of the most helpful people in our batch. We have been friends since school. She also used to help her friends clear backlogs. I run an NGO, the HHN Foundation for the needy. Aishwarya said she would donate money to the NGO once she got a job. She had been helping the NGO for a year,” said Vikas, a school friend of Aishwarya.

Vikas recalls how they used to call Aishwarya “Rowdy” in school for her daring and bold personality. “She used to stand before us and protect us in any situation. That is why we called her Rowdy, for her guts. Wondering what her situation was at the time of the shootout,” said Vikas.

According to her friends, who always kept in touch with her, the place where Aishwarya lived was quite safe. “Whenever we spoke about the situations in the US, she used to say her place was safe and such shootouts were rare,” said Vikas.