Three Muslim-Americans Murdered in North Carolina by Gunman (Updated)
Three young Muslim-Americans were killed yesterday evening in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by a gunman who had posted anti-religious messages on his Facebook. The victims’ names are: 19-year-old Razan Mohammed Abu-Salha; 21-year-old Yusor Mohammed Abu-Salha; and 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat.
Barakat was a dental student at the University of North Carolina. Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha was Barakat’s wife, and was set to start dentistry school next academic year. Razan Mohammed Abu-Salha was the sister of Yusor. Barakat and Abu-Salha were married last December.
Chapel Hill Police have named 46-year-old Craig Hicks as a suspect. He has been charged with murder and is said to have killed them “execution style” with shots to the head. The police have released a statement saying its “preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking.”
VICE News has more on Hicks:
The owner of [a Facebook page believed to belong to Hicks] frequently posted anti-religious messages. He is a member of groups including “Friends of Freedom From Religion Foundation,” and “Atheism on Youtube.” There are also multiple posts directly referring to Muslims, and a picture of a revolver on a weighing scales with the comment: “Yes, that is 1 pound 5.1 ounces for my loaded 38 revolver, its holster, and five extra rounds.”
VICE News could not independently verify that this page belonged to him.
The News & Observer based in Raleigh, North Carolina reports that the father of the Abu-Salha sisters believe the murder was a hate crime, and that Hicks had harassed Barakat and Abu-Salha in the past:
But the women’s father, Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, who has a psychiatry practice in Clayton, said regardless of the precise trigger Tuesday night, Hicks’ underlying animosity toward Barakat and Abu-Salha was based on their religion and culture. Abu-Salha said police told him Hicks shot the three inside their apartment.
“It was execution style, a bullet in every head,” Abu-Salha said Wednesday morning. “This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far.”
Abu-Salha said his daughter who lived next door to Hicks wore a Muslim head scarf and told her family a week ago that she had “a hateful neighbor.”
“Honest to God, she said, ‘He hates us for what we are and how we look,’” he said.
Source: mondoweiss.net