A Vermont man was charged Monday with three counts of attempted murder in the shooting of three Palestinian college students. The man, Jason Eaton, 48, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to a document filed by local law enforcement, the incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. Saturday outside the alleged shooter’s apartment. The three men injured — 20-year-olds Kinnan Abdalhamid, Tahseen Ahmed and Hisham Awartani — were shot in their back, chest and spine respectively.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI are still investigating whether the shootings were a hate crime. The victims were speaking Arabic and two of them were wearing a keffiyeh, a square-shaped scarf worn across the Arab communities across the world, when they were shot four times, according to Burlington police.
“No person and no community in this country should have to live with the fear of hate-fueled violence,” Mr. Garland said Monday, the New York Times reported.
Amidst the Israel-Hamas war, the United States has seen an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment and antisemitism.
According to a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the organization received a total of 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias between October 7 and November 4, revealing a 216% increase in Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment across the U.S. compared to the previous year. The Anti-Defamation League recorded a total of 312 antisemitic incidents, 190 of which were directly linked to the violence in Israel and Gaza.
In a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Sen. Bernie Sanders called the shooting “shocking” and “deeply upsetting. "
“Hate has no place here, or anywhere,” Sanders wrote. “I look forward to a full investigation. My thoughts are with them and their families.”
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that there were eight anti-Arab/Muslim hate crimes in L.A. between October 6 and 26, compared to just one during the same period last year. The number of antisemitic hate crimes also increased significantly during the same period compared to 2022.
Two of the students are in stable condition, while the third student is still in critical condition, according to Police Chief John Murad.