3 Palestinian Students Shot In Vermont, Suspect At Large

Forbes Business Breaking 3 Palestinian Students Shot In Vermont, Suspect At Large Sara Dorn Forbes Staff Politics Following Click to save this article. You’ll be asked to sign into your Forbes account. Nov 26, 2023, 03:26pm EST Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Updated Nov 26, 2023, 04:26pm EST Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Three Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont, Saturday by a white man who is being pursued by police, law enforcement said, though the motivation remains unknown.

City Hall in Burlington, Vermont. Three Palestinian students were shot in Burlington Saturday . .

. [+] evening by a white gunman who is being pursued by police. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) Corbis via Getty Images Key Facts The unidentified gunman approached the three men on the street, near the University of Vermont campus, at approximately 6:30 p.

m. Saturday and fired four rounds, hitting two of the victims in the torso and the third below his waist, police said. Two of the victims are in stable condition, and the third was seriously injured, according to officials.

The victims, all 20-years-old, were identified by their alma mater, the Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank, as Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University; Kinnan Abdel Hamid, a student at Haveford University; and Tahseen Ahmed, a student at Trinity College. They were visiting Awartani’s grandmother for Thanksgiving when the shooting occurred, CNN reported , citing Awartani’s great uncle, Marwan Awartani. Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, scarves often worn to symbolize Palestinian solidarity; one is a legal resident and the other two are U.

S. citizens, according to police. Police have not determined a motive for the shooting, Burlington police chief Jon Murad said, acknowledging “no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime.

” Crucial Quote “It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt. ) and the former mayor of Burlington tweeted .

“Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation. My thoughts are with them and their families.

” What To Watch For Advocates, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, along with the victims’ families have called on police to investigate the attack as a hate crime. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter. Key Background The shooting comes amid heightened tensions on college campuses between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.

Both Palestinian-American and Jewish community leaders in the U. S. have reported a surge of threats and incidents of violence in recent months.

In October, 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume died and his mother Hanaan Shahin was seriously injured in a stabbing in Dearborn, Michigan, in an alleged hate crime, according to the Justice Department. More than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli counter attacks since Hamas militants invaded Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 and taking approximately 240 hostages back to Gaza. The growing civilian death toll in Gaza has prompted amplified calls for a cease-fire from protesters and progressives in Congress.

MORE FROM FORBES American Child Among 17 Hostages Released By Hamas Today By Sara Dorn Follow me on Twitter . Send me a secure tip . Sara Dorn Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.