The man accused of shooting three Palestinian college students visiting Burlington, Vermont on Thanksgiving break is slated to appear in court Friday morning nearly four months after his arrest, according to a report.
On November 25 2023, Tasheen Ahmed, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Hisham Awartani, all 20, were walking the streets of Burlington while visiting the city for Thanksgiving break when they were shot. At the time of the shooting, the students were speaking Arabic, and two of them were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, according to Burlington police.
Ahmed and Abdalhamid were treated and released from the hospital shortly after the shooting. Awartani was left paralyzed from the chest down, according to a GoFundMe set up on to fund his recovery, which to date has raised over $1.6 million.
Jason Eaton, 48, was detained by ATF agents canvassing the crime scene, and arrested shortly after the shooting. He has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and has been jailed since his November arraignment.
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, the shooting sparked national outrage and calls for Eaton to be tried for a hate crime. While the case is being investigated as a hate crime, prosecutors have admitted they have few answers when it comes to a motive.
"Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear that there's no question this was a hateful act," Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George said following Eaton's arrest, according to WCAX3.
