Three Palestinian students shot and wounded in Vermont, police say
Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded on Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, on their way to a family dinner.
The head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid, undergraduate students at Brown, Haverford and Trinity. Zomlot said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that each of the victims was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh when they were attacked, though authorities have stopped short of publicly discussing a possible motive for the triple shooting.
Meanwhile, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee added in a separate post on X: “We have reason to believe that the shooting was motivated by the three [victims] being Arab.
“The three victims were wearing a kuffiyeh and speaking Arabic. A man shouted and harassed the victims.”
According to Seven Days Vermont, local authorities have only said three people were shot near the University of Vermont campus just before 6.30pm Saturday. The victims were taken to the
University of Vermont medical center for treatment.
As of Sunday, police had not announced any suspects or arrests. Authorities had asked the public to avoid the area.
The Council on American Islamic
Relations (Cair) National is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the crime.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont issued a statement calling news of the shooting, “shocking and deeply upsetting”.
The families of the three victims issued a joint statement.
“We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime,” said the statement. “We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice.”
CBS news local affiliate Channel Three confirmed all three shooting victims are of Palestinian descent but did not name them.
The Ramallah Friends School issued a statement on Facebook naming the victims and describing them as graduates of the Palestinian high school.
“We extend our thoughts and prayers to them and their families for a full recovery, especially considering the severity of injuries – as Hisham has been shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest, and Kinnan with minor injuries,” the post said. “While we are relieved to know that they are alive, we remain uncertain about their condition and hold them in the light.”
Basil Awartani posted on X that his cousin Hisham Awartani is one of the shooting victims and alleged the attack was a hate crime. He asserted that the victims were targeted for speaking Arabic and wearing kuffiyehs.
“My cousin Hisham has been shot in the back while walking with his friends in Burlington for simply wearing kuf