Over the weekend, three college students of Palestinian descent who were casually hanging outside getting some fresh air were seriously injured in Vermont after a man approached them and shot them. This latest attack is now being investigated as a possible hate crime, authorities said this Monday.
As the investigation is ongoing, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said, “We still do not know as much as we want to know,” Murad continued saying at a press conference two days after the shooting, “But I would urge the public and you in the media to avoid making conclusions based on statements from people who know even less than we currently do. We are working hard to find out this information.”
So who is responsible for carrying out this attack? According to local reports, the suspect has been identified as Jason J. Eaton. The 48-year-old was arrested on Sunday. He is being charged with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree. Mr. Eaton has since pleaded not guilty Monday and is being held without bond. Prosecutor State Attorney Sarah George said earlier today, “Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear that there is no question, this was a hateful act.”
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What Are The Conditions Of The Innocent Victims?
As CNN reports, the three 20-year-old students remained hospitalized in an intensive care unit Monday. The shooting victims have been identified as Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University in Rhode Island; Kinnan Abdalhamid, who is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania; and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut, according to the Institute for Middle East Understanding, which provided statements on behalf of the victims’ families. Rich Price, the uncle of one of the shooting victims said they were all together for a Thanksgiving celebration.
More On What Happened:
The police chief said some of the victims have been interviewed by detectives.
“They stated that the (suspect) had not made any comments to them and had merely approached them while they were walking down the street, essentially minding their own business. And they were speaking in a mixture of English and Arabic,” Murad explained. “They had no knowledge of this individual, had not encountered him before. He stepped off a porch and produced a firearm and began discharging that firearm.”
Meanwhile, an attorney for the victims’ families, Abed Ayoub, said he believes the students were targeted in part because two of them were wearing traditional Palestinian scarves.
“The suspect walked up to them and shot them. They weren’t robbed, they weren’t mugged,” Ayoub told CNN on Sunday before the arrest was announced to the public. “It was a targeted shooting and a targeted crime.”
President Biden on Monday condemned the shooting in Burlington, Vt. “They were simply spending Thanksgiving gathered with family and loved ones,” Biden said in a statement on the Saturday incident.
“While we are waiting for more facts, we know this: there is absolutely no place for violence or hate in America. Period. No person should worry about being shot at while going about their daily lives. And far too many Americans know a family member injured or killed as a result of gun violence. We cannot and we will not accept that.”