University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Source: USA Today
Three Muslim students, who were honored by thousands in a candlelight vigil at Chapel Hill, N.C., will be buried Thursday in Raleigh as authorities try to determine whether they were killed in a petty dispute over parking space or whether religious hatred played a role.
Deah Shaddy Barakat, a 23-year-old dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh were killed with shots to the head at their apartment in Chapel Hill, N.C., allegedly by a neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks.
The funeral will be held in Raleigh at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Police say an initial investigation indicates that the execution-style shootings erupted after a long-simmering dispute, but authorities are also probing whether the killings involved hate crimes.
The victims, of Syrian descent, were all born in the U.S. and grew up in the North Carolina area.
Barakat and Mohammad, recently married, had volunteered to help the homeless and also raised money to help Syrian refugees in Turkey. They met while helping to run the Muslim Student Association at N.C. State before he began pursuing an advanced degree in dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mohammad, who graduated in December, planned to join her husband in dentistry school in the fall.
“This was like the power couple of our community,” said Ali Sajjad, 21, the president of the Muslim Student Association at N.C. State, WTVD-TV reports.
The killings shocked the quiet college town, with as many as 2,000 people turning out for a candlelight vigil in the heart of University of North Carolina campus Wednesday evening.
There was also moment of silence to honor the victims before Wednesday evening’s game between Virginia and NC State at PNC Arena. Students also wore green ribbons in their honor. Vigils were also planned Thursday at N.C. State and at East Carolina University.
Hicks, 46, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond.
A Second Amendment rights advocate with a concealed weapons permit, Hicks often complained about both Christians and Muslims on his Facebook page. “Some call me a gun toting Liberal, others call me an open-minded Conservative,” he wrote.
A woman who lives near the scene described Hicks as short-tempered.
Categories: Americas, The Muslim Times
North Carolina shooter had ‘13 guns, cache of ammo’
HomeUSSociety Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:1AM
The shooter who killed three Muslim students in North Carolina was heavily armed with an arsenal of at least a dozen firearms in his home, according to search warrants.
The warrants show Craig Stephen Hicks had four handguns, a pistol, two shotguns and six rifles, including a military-style AR-15 carbine.
This is while police recovered many loaded magazines and cases of ammunition.
The items were recovered on Friday by the Chapel Hill Police Department from the condominium of the suspect, who was arrested at the scene of the crime.
Hicks shot dead three young American Muslims in an apartment on Tuesday. The victims were his neighbors.
The 46-year-old shooter has been charged with three counts of first degree murder for killing Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
The brutal shooting deaths of young Americans sparked outrage among Muslims in the United States.
President Barack Obama condemned the killings of young Muslim students.
“No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship,” Obama said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also “deeply moved” by thousands of people who took part at the funeral of the victims.
Barakat, who was a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina’s School of Dentistry, had married Yusor in December.
In a recent charity move, he helped provide free dental supplies to 75 homeless people in Durham, according to the last picture on his Facebook page.
Barakat and his wife also organized a fundraiser to get dental care to refugees from Syria. He had planned to travel to Turkey to treat children who have become refugees following the war in Syria.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/02/14/397508/US-shooter-had-13-guns-cache-of-ammo
http://www.presstv.ir/Video/2015/02/14/397489/Protesters-in-Washington-slam-killing-of-3-Muslim-students