An unidentified assailant approached three men on a street near the University of Vermont campus around 6:30 p.m. on a Saturday and discharged four rounds, striking two of the victims in the torso and the third below the waist, according to the police. Officials have confirmed that two of the victims are currently in stable condition, while the third sustained more severe injuries.
The victims, all 20 years of age, were identified by their alma mater, the Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank. They are Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University; Kinnan Abdel Hamid, a student at Haverford University; and Tahseen Ahmed, a student at Trinity College.
The shooting took place while they were visiting Awartani’s grandmother for Thanksgiving, as reported by CNN, citing Awartani’s great uncle, Marwan Awartani. Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, scarves often worn as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, while one is a legal resident and the other two are U.S. citizens, according to the police.
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad has stated that the motive for the shooting has not been determined, acknowledging that “no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime.”
Key Points to Monitor
Advocates, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, along with the victims’ families, are urging the police to investigate the attack as a hate crime. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Background Information
This incident occurs amidst heightened tensions on college campuses between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students, partly fueled by the Israel-Hamas conflict. Both Palestinian-American and Jewish community leaders in the U.S. have reported an increase in threats and incidents of violence in recent months.
In October, a 6-year-old named Wadea Al-Fayoume tragically lost his life, and his mother Hanaan Shahin was seriously injured in a stabbing in Dearborn, Michigan, in what the Justice Department is investigating as a hate crime.
The Israel-Hamas war, which began when Hamas militants invaded Israel on October 7, has resulted in more than 13,000 Palestinians losing their lives in Israeli counterattacks. This conflict has led to an estimated 1,200 casualties and the taking of approximately 240 hostages back to Gaza. The growing civilian death toll in Gaza has prompted amplified calls for a ceasefire from protesters and progressives in Congress.