Three young Palestinian men were reportedly shot near a university campus in Vermont.
According to media sources, the aggression happened on Saturday night close to the University of Vermont’s Burlington campus. Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Tahseen Ahmed – all of them study at different U.S. universities – were named as the three victims.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) reported that one of the victims would be discharged from the hospital on Sunday, while the other two are in critical condition. After learning of the shooting earlier on Sunday, the committee stated that it had “reason to believe [it] was motivated by the three victims being Arab.”
“According to the information provided, the three victims were wearing a keffiyeh and speaking Arabic. A man shouted and harassed the victims, then proceeded to shoot them,” the organization said in a statement.
“[We] are deeply distressed by the recent incident involving three of our graduates,” the Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank, where the three studied, said in a statement on Facebook. “While we are relieved to know they are alive, we remain uncertain about their condition. We extend our thoughts and prayers to them and their families for a full recovery, especially considering the severity of the injuries – as Hisham has been shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest, and Kinnan with minor injuries.”
It’s still unclear what motivated the attack. A request for more information was not immediately answered by the Burlington police.
