Vermont police are investigating the shooting attack on three Palestinian students who were on their way to dinner on Saturday as a potential hate crime.
The three victims were identified to be all men in their 20s and were all students of American universities. They were reportedly walking near the University of Vermont when they were suddenly shot and wounded by a white man with a handgun.
Shooting of Palestinian Students
Police reported that two of the victims were in stable condition, but the third sustained much more serious injuries. The chief of Burlington police, Jon Murad, said that no one can look at the incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime due to recent developments.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger released a statement saying that the possibility of the shooting being a hate crime was "chilling." He added that the investigation into the incident focused on that aspect, as per the New York Times.
Law enforcement officials also said that they were still looking to identify and locate the suspect in the shooting. They added that other than the fact that the three victims were of Palestinian descent and two were wearing a keffiyeh, there was no "additional information to suggest the suspect's motive."
Murad noted that he has already communicated with federal authorities in case investigators determined that the crime was motivated by hate. However, he noted they had limited information and urged the public to avoid making conclusions "based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less."
The Burlington police did not release the names of the victims in the attack but noted that two of them were American citizens while the third was a legal resident. On the other hand, the men's families identified them in a statement as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed.
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Potential Hate Crime
The suspect allegedly approached the three men quietly without speaking a word, discharged at least four rounds from the handgun, and subsequently fled the scene. In a news release, the mayor said that all three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities, according to the Associated Press.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sarah Ruane, said that the agency is prepared to investigate if information comes to light of a potential federal violation. The White House also said that President Joe Biden was already briefed on the shooting and will continue to receive updates as law enforcement gathers more information.
Detectives could recover ballistic evidence from the crime scene that would later be submitted to a federal database. The investigation into the incident comes as civil rights groups, as well as the families of the victims, are calling attention to the role that bias may have played in the attack.
An attorney for the families of the victims described the incident as a "targeted shooting and a targeted crime." He said that the three Palestinian students were not robbed or mugged but simply shot, said CNN.
