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Three college students of Palestinian descent were shot Saturday night in Burlington, Vt., VTDigger reported.
Two are in stable condition and one sustained serious injuries, according to the Burlington Police Department.
Police said that two of the men were wearing kaffiyehs when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun who “discharged at least four rounds” and fled, raising the possibility that it was a hate crime.
On Sunday afternoon, Jason Eaton, 48, was arrested by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who were canvassing the area near the site of the shooting, Burlington police said in a statement. Neither a motive nor specific charges were immediately disclosed. Eaton's arraignment was scheduled for Monday. (This paragraph has been added to include details of the suspect's arrest.)
“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” said Burlington police chief Jon Murad, referring to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee called on U.S. authorities to treat the attack as a hate crime, noting that the shooter verbally harassed the men, who were speaking Arabic.
“After reviewing the initial information provided we have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab,” the ADC statement said.
In a message posted on Facebook, the Ramallah Friends School identified the three victims as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed, all 20-year-old graduates of the West Bank Quaker school who attend Brown University, Haverford College and Trinity College, respectively.
They were reportedly visiting one of the students’ relatives in Burlington over the Thanksgiving holiday. Two of the victims are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident, police said.
They are were being treated at the University of Vermont Medical Center, WCAX reported.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator or perpetrators.
