Three students of Palestinian descent were critically injured in a shooting incident in Burlington, Vermont, reported U.S. media sources.
The students, identified as Hisham Awartani from Brown University, Kenan Abdul Hameed from Harvard University, and Tahsin Ahmed from Trinity University, all aged 20, were involved in the tragic event.
According to our correspondent in the United States, two of the students are currently in intensive care, while the third is being treated for severe injuries.
The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stated that the students had gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving and were wearing Palestinian Kufiyas and speaking Arabic when a man began harassing and then shooting at them.
The ADC has urged Vermont law enforcement to investigate the shooting as a hate crime and has reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct an immediate investigation into hate crimes.
Abed Ayoub, the ADC’s Executive Director, stated that given the information collected, it is clear that hate was the motivating factor in this shooting, and we urge law enforcement to investigate accordingly.
The ADC’s statement concludes by noting the unprecedented rise in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiments, with this incident being another example of such hatred escalating into violence.
Earlier, US police charged a 71-year-old man with committing a hate crime after he killed a six-year-old Palestinian boy with 26 stabs from a large military knife and injured the boy’s mother with over 12 stabs, in a house located in Plainfield, about 65 kilometers southwest of Chicago.
