ATLANTA—The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) is highly alarmed and deeply impacted by a disturbing surge of deadly violence targeting hotel owners. In just 72 hours last week, three hoteliers were killed—two in Charlotte, N.C., and one in Pittsburgh.
Anilkumar Patel and Pankaj Patel were fatally shot on Thursday in Charlotte, with a suspect now charged and in custody, while Rakesh Ehagaban was shot and killed Friday in Pittsburgh in an incident in which a police officer also was shot along with the suspect.
The deaths follow the murder of a hotel manager last month in Dallas. That slaying came on the heels of the 2024 murders of hoteliers in Oklahoma City and in Sheffield, Ala…