World Bulletin / News Desk

A judge in the state of North Carolina ruled Monday that prosecutors could pursue the death penalty against the alleged killer of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill.

Durham County Assistant District Attorney Jim Dornfried said Craig Stephen Hicks took a gun from inside his home Feb. 10 and went to his neighbors’ door and had an exchange with Deah Shaddy Barakat.

Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill, and his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, were shot to death at an apartment building in Chapel Hill, N.C. Their murder is a watershed moment for Americans to confront Islamaphobia in the country.

Dornfried said Hick pulled out his concealed gun and first shot Barakat, then shot Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, Barakat’s wife, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.

The two women were still alive when Hicks shot them again in the head and fired at Barakat on the way out of the apartment, according to Dornfried.

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