Chapel Hill:

Families believe victims were killed because of religion.

Thousands came to the funeral of three young Muslims allegedly slain by a neighbor,

RALEIGH, N.C. — The fathers of three young Muslims allegedly slain by a neighbor who was angry over parking spots stood before their caskets Thursday and urged a crowd of thousands to protect others by demanding justice.

More than 5,000 people came to the funeral of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. They were killed Tuesday in the couple’s Chapel Hill, N.C., apartment.

A self-described “gun toting” atheist with a reputation for bullying his neighbors, Craig Stephen Hicks turned himself in and was jailed on first-degree murder charges.

Chapel Hill police said they were investigating whether religious or ethnic hatred motivated Hicks, and federal investigators said they had not ruled out that the killings were a hate crime. The FBI also announced Thursday that it has “opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether any federal laws were violated.”

U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand, the district’s top federal prosecutor, had said Wednesday that there was no immediate evidence Hicks targeted the three because they were Muslims. That didn’t sit well with many at the funeral, where the victims were hailed as martyrs for their faith.

“When we say this was a hate crime, it is all about protecting all other children in the USA,” said Dr. Mohammad Yousif Abu-Salha, who lost his daughters. “It’s all about making this country that they loved, where they lived and died, peaceful for everybody else.”

“We need to identify things the way they really are,” he added. “If somebody picks up a fight about anything they can invent, and they murder three people execution-style, we know what this is about.”

Namee Barakat said Hicks had visited his son’s condo before Tuesday, flashing his gun as he demanded they stop using visitors’ parking spots. “Yusor told her dad that this guy, he does not like us,” Barakat said. “She was concerned.”

Abu-Salha said he’s certain his daughters “were targeted for their religion.”

“This is not a parking dispute,” he said. “These children were executed with shots in the back of the head.”

Police have said they are not commenting on evidence in the case, including manner of death.

Yusor Abu-Salha was born in Jordan and came to the U.S. as a young girl. In an interview recorded last year as part of the StoryCorps project and broadcast by North Carolina Public Radio on Thursday, she expressed gratitude for her adopted homeland.

“Growing up in America has been such a blessing,” she said. “And, you know, although in some ways I do stand out, such as the hijab I wear on my head, the head covering, there’s still so many ways I feel so embedded in the fabric that is our culture. That’s the beautiful thing here, is that it doesn’t matter where you come from.”

AP Namee Barakat, bottom center, watches as his son Deah Shaddy Barakat is buried Thursday in Wendell, N.C. Deah Barakat, his wife and her sister were killed in a shooting Tuesday. A neighbor has been charged with murder.