Police in Burlington, Vermont, have arrested a suspect in the killing of three Palestinian students in what the city’s mayor said was being investigated as a possible hate crime.
The suspect, identified by police as 48-year-old Jason J. Eaton, is expected to be charged Monday in connection with the shooting deaths of the students, three men in their 20s who attend American universities. They were shot Saturday by a white man with a handgun while they were walking near the University of Vermont, police said. Two of the victims were wearing Palestinian keffiyehs, a traditional headdress.
The youths told family members they spoke a hybrid of English and Arabic before the man shot them four times without saying anything before the attack, a family spokesman said.
The two victims are in stable condition, authorities said. The third suffered much further serious afflictions.
In a statement after the arrest, police said authorities searched Mr. Eaton’s home, adding that the shooting happened in front of his apartment building.
No other details were available, but Burlington Police Chief John Murad said earlier Sunday that “at this tense moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that this may have been a hate crime.” ”
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger added in an earlier statement that the possibility that the shooting may have been motivated by hate is “frightening” and that the investigation is focused on that.
It was unclear Monday morning whether Mr. Eaton had legal representation. Burlington police said earlier Sunday that other than the fact that the students are of Palestinian descent and that two of them were wearing keffiyehs, they had “no additional information to suggest the suspect’s motive.”
And Mr. Murad previously urged the public not to conclude.
Burlington police didn’t unlock the names of the victims but told two were U.S. citizens and the third was a legal resident. In a statement, the men’s families identified them as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahsin Ahmed.
Friends of Ramallah School, a private school in the West Bank, said in a Facebook post that all three men studied there. They are now juniors in college. Mr. Awartani attends Brown University, Mr. Abdalhamid attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Ahmed attends Trinity College in Connecticut.
The three were walking to Mr. Awartani’s grandmother’s house for dinner, according to Marwan Awartani, a great-uncle and former Palestinian Authority education minister. He said the three took photos together and sent them to Hisham’s parents minutes before leaving for dinner.
Marwan Awartani added that the bullet that hit Hisham hit his spinal cord and he lost sensation in the lower part of his body. He remained hospitalized Sunday evening and was “expected to survive his injuries,” according to a statement from Christina H. Paxson, president of Brown University.
Ahmed was fired in the casket and Mr. Abdalhamid suffered minor injuries, according to a statement from the families of the victims.
The people called on authorities to probe the firing as an execration crime.
“ Why would anyone snap cubs wearing out a Palestinian kaffiyeh?” Marwan Avartani spoke about this in an interview.
Nicholas P. Kerest, the U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont, said in a statement that his office will work with the Justice Department’s civil rights division to determine whether the shooting constitutes a federal crime.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said its offices have seen a sharp increase in reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias since Oct. 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel. In late October, the Anti-Defamation League said there had also been a significant increase in reported incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism, and assaults compared to last year.
“This has to stop,” Hussam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission in the United Kingdom and a friend of the families, said in a telephone conversation Sunday, pointing to a 6-year-old boy who was fatally shot last month in an attack in Illinois authorities have called anti-Muslim.
This month, the federal government launched discrimination investigations at half a dozen universities following complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic harassment. The Biden administration embarked on the disquisition as the cut of” trouble to hold aggressive act to address a disquieting civil upgrading in reports of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination.”
The White House said Sunday that President Biden had been briefed on the students and would continue to receive updates.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he was “deeply upset that three young Palestinians were shot and killed here in Burlington, Virginia.” There is no place for hatred here or anywhere else. I look forward to the full investigation.”
