DALLAS: A horrifying incident has sent shockwaves across the community in East Dallas, Texas after a 50-year-old Indian-origin man was brutally murdered and beheaded by his co-worker in front of his wife and teenage son.

The gruesome incident took place early morning on September 10 at the Downtown Suites Motel located on Samuell Boulevard, where the victim, Chandra Nagamallaiah, had been working as a manager for the past three years.

According to Dallas police, the dispute began when Nagamallaiah told his employee, Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, not to use a broken washing machine. The argument quickly escalated into a violent confrontation.

Suddenly, Cobos-Martinez pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed Nagamallaiah, forcing him to flee toward the motel office while badly injured. Nagamallaiah’s wife and 18-year-old son, who were already inside the office, desperately tried to intervene, but Cobos-Martinez was unstoppable.

The suspect beheaded Nagamallaiah in front of his family, then kicked the severed head toward the parking lot before later placing it in a dumpster. The chilling scene was captured on the motel’s security cameras, which showed a trail of blood stretching from the room to the front office.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called the killing “unthinkable” and admitted that Cobos-Martinez had been released from ICE custody earlier in 2025 under an order of supervision due to the lack of available deportation flights to Cuba. 

ICE acknowledged that, in hindsight, releasing him had been a mistake and that he should not have been free.

The suspect, a Cuban national, has now been arrested and charged with capital murder. He is currently being held at the Dallas County Jail, and detectives have obtained a search warrant to collect additional evidence from the crime scene.

Nagamallaiah, originally from the Indian state of Karnataka, was known as a hardworking, honest, and family-oriented man who deeply cared for his loved ones.

The Consulate General of India in Houston expressed deep sorrow over the incident, stating:

“We are in continuous contact with the bereaved family and providing all possible assistance. The accused is in Dallas Police custody, and we are closely monitoring the case.”

The shocking murder has left not only the Indian community but also other Asian immigrant groups in deep grief and anger.

On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), many users expressed outrage over the lack of mainstream media coverage and raised serious concerns about the safety of immigrant workers and the rising incidents of anti-Asian violence.

The US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, was placed on a security lockdown on Thursday while military personnel and local law enforcement investigated reports of threats to the installation, the Navy said on the academy’s Facebook page.

There was no immediate official word on the nature of the reported threat. But Fox News, citing multiple sources inside the academy, said a former midshipman who had been expelled from the school had returned to campus armed with a weapon.

According to the Fox News report, gunshots were heard inside Bancroft Hall, which houses the midshipmen.

According to the Facebook statement from Naval Support Activity Annapolis, the “base is on lockdown out of an abundance of caution.”

 It said Navy support personnel, in coordination with local law enforcement, were “responding to reports of threats made to the Naval Academy.”

• Washington calls it a “witch hunt,” Trump calls it “surprising.”
• Seven aides, including ex-ministers and generals, also convicted.
• He is also guilty of inciting 2023 riots, knowing of plot to kill leaders.

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced firebrand ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew US fury.

The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail.

Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.

He can appeal the verdict.

Washington was quick to respond to the conviction of the man dubbed “the Trump of the tropics.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “will respond accordingly” to what he called a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

Trump, who had levied steep tariffs on Brazil as punishment over Bolsonaro’s prosecution, labelled the verdict “very surprising.”

“That’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” he told reporters, calling Bolsonaro “a good man.”

While the Supreme Court had already garnered the simple majority of three votes needed for his conviction at the fourth vote, it only became final after the last of the five judges issued his decision.

“An armed criminal organisation was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the factual circumstances I consider proven,” said the fifth judge, Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s former lawyer.

Bolsonaro’s seven co-accused, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.

Political

Bolsonaro’s conviction came after one of the biggest, most divisive trials in Brazil’s recent history, which ended with a nail-biting vote that stretched over four days.

Bolsonaro himself did not attend the verdict hearings in the capital, Brasilia, instead following the proceedings from his residence, where he is under house arrest.

Across the nation, Brazilians were glued to the proceedings on TV and social media.

In one Brasilia bar, patrons watching the trial on a giant screen burst into applause after he was convicted.

“After so much waiting, this despicable individual is being sent to jail,” translator Virgilio Soares, 46, said.

But Germano Cavalcante, a 60-year-old civil engineer, called the trial “unfair.”

Apart from heading a “criminal organisation,” Bolsonaro was charged with knowing of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes.

He was also convicted of inciting the violent 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia by hundreds of his supporters, a week after Lula was inaugurated as his successor.

A country divided

The trial drove a deep wedge through Brazilian society, between those primarily on the left who saw it as a vital test of the country’s democracy, from those mainly on the right who viewed it as a political show trial.

Fearing his conviction, the ex-president’s allies have been pushing Congress to pass an amnesty law to save him from prison.

The case has led to an unprecedented crisis in relations between the United States and longtime ally Brazil.

Besides the tariff punishment, Washington has also sanctioned Moraes and other Supreme Court judges.