Three Palestinian Students Injured in Vermont Shooting Incident

Accident – Death – Obituary News : Three Palestinian university students were victims of a shooting incident in Burlington, Vermont on Saturday evening, as confirmed by local law enforcement. According to a press release issued by the police on Sunday, the three 20-year-old men are currently receiving medical treatment, with two in stable condition and one sustaining more severe injuries.

The incident occurred while the students were visiting a relative in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday. As the students were walking on Prospect Street, they were reportedly approached by an unidentified white man carrying a handgun. Without uttering a word, the assailant fired at least four rounds from the pistol and then fled on foot, leaving the victims injured and in shock.

Authorities have revealed that two of the victims are US citizens, while the third holds legal residency status. In a troubling detail, it has been reported that two of the students were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, at the time of the attack. Two of the victims suffered gunshot wounds to their torsos, while the third was shot in the lower extremities.

The incident has heightened concerns among Muslim and Arab Americans, who already feel increasingly cautious due to the rise in hate crimes. The suspect’s motives remain unknown, and detectives have recovered ballistic evidence from the shooting, which will be submitted to a federal database for analysis, as per Burlington police protocols.

The FBI has announced its readiness to investigate the incident. Police Chief Jon Murad stated that officers promptly responded to a distress call and discovered two of the shooting victims near the University of Vermont campus, with the third victim found in close proximity. The injured students were swiftly transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center for immediate medical attention. At present, the shooter or shooters have not been identified or apprehended, and the police department is still in the early stages of investigating the crime.

The three students involved have been identified as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdelhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed. According to a Facebook post by the Ramallah Friends School, a Quaker-operated private nonprofit school in the occupied West Bank, all three individuals are graduates of the institution. The post also revealed that they are currently enrolled in American colleges. Haverford College in Pennsylvania has confirmed that Abdelhamid, a junior at the college, is currently recovering from gunshot wounds at a hospital.

The incident has garnered attention from political figures as well. Senator Bernie Sanders expressed his shock and deep upset over the shootings, emphasizing that hate has no place in society. He called for a thorough investigation into the incident.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, also addressed the incident, specifically identifying the victims as “three young Palestinian men.” Zomlot took to social media to condemn the ongoing hate crimes against Palestinians, urging for their protection worldwide.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released a statement suggesting that the shooting may have been motivated by the victims’ Arab heritage. In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has offered a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to the capture and conviction of the shooter or shooters.

The shooting occurred during a period of heightened tension and hate crimes in the United States following a deadly attack by Hamas in Israel and Israel’s subsequent airstrikes in Gaza. In a tragic incident in October, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed by his family’s landlord, an act currently under investigation as a hate crime.

CNN has reached out to the University of Vermont, the University of Vermont Medical Center, the students’ universities, and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger for their comments on the incident.

This is an ongoing story, and further updates will be provided as more information becomes available..