Vermont: Near a US college, three Palestinian students were shot

 Vermont: Near a US college, three Palestinian students were shot

Police should look into the incident as a possible hate crime, according to the relatives of the three Palestinian students who were shot on Saturday in Vermont.

A male approached and shot Hisham Awatani, Tahsin Ahmed, and Kinnan Abdalhamid close to the University of Vermont campus, according to Burlington police.

He was speaking Arabic and wearing a traditional scarf, called a keffiyeh, when he was assaulted, according to the authorities, who are still looking into a potential motivation.

The culprit is being sought after by police.

According to Burlington Police Chief John Mura, two of the victims had stable conditions, while the third had more severe wounds.

All three fatalities went to Ramallah Friends School, a private non-profit school in Ramallah that is administered by Quakers, according to family members.

Haverford College listed Mr. Abdalhamid as one of its pupils. The other two are Mr. Ahmed, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut, and Mr. Awartani, a student at Brown University.

The three males, all in their 20s, had attended a boy's birthday party who was eight years old, according to Rich Price, the uncle of one of the fatalities.

The last thing we can think of is that they might stroll down the street in our family's neighborhood and this would happen to them.

"We noticed the police car passing our home with its lights flashing and sirens less than five minutes after they departed. And we thought, well, this is really getting weird.

"Had no idea it was my nephew and his friends."

According to Reuters, the pro-Palestinian non-profit group Middle East Understanding earlier freed the victims' relatives.

He went on, "We demand that law enforcement look into this matter in great detail and classify it as a hate crime.

"Until the shooter is held accountable, we will not be able to sleep easy."

A $10,000 prize is being offered by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for information that results in an arrest.

The shootings occur at a time when the US is dealing with an increase in occurrences of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, including physical assaults and cyberbullying, since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7.

Former Democratic presidential candidate and senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders denounced the most recent acts of violence.

Composing on

The leader of the Palestinian mission in Britain, Ambassador Hussam Zomlot, shared a picture of the three on social media with the caption, "Hate crimes against Palestinians must stop."