3 Top Palestinian College Students Shot In Vermont In Alleged Bias Attack: ‘another Example Of Hate Turning Violent’

[Sugar Cookie]

Three top Palestinian college students were shot Saturday while walking to a family dinner in Vermont — the victims of a horrific bias attack, according to Palestinian and Arab-American officials.

All three men, including Harvard and Brown University students, were wearing traditional Keffiyeh scarves when they were wounded, said Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission in the United Kingdom, in a post on X on Sunday.

“Three young Palestinian men, Hiham Awartani, Tahseen Ali and Kenan Abdulhamid, students at Yale and other universities, were shot last night on their way to a family dinner in Burlington,” Zomlot wrote.

“Their crime? Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh,” he said. “They are critically injured.”

The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said the victims are all 20 years old and identified Awartani as a student at Brown, Abdalhamid at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Ali, whom they identified by the last name Ahmed, at Trinity University.

“All three victims survived the initial shooting, however, two of them are currently in ICU and one of the students has sustained very critical and serious injuries,” the ADC said in a statement.

The three men were walking along North Prospect Street in the state capital around 6:30 p.m. when they were shot, according to KPTZ-TV News.

The victims were rushed to the University of Vermont Medical Center, while the shooter remains on the loose.

KPTZ did not identify the victims as Palestinian, but Zomlot and Arab-American outlets and organizations said they were and denounced the incident as a targeted attack against Palestinians as the Israel-Hamas war rages.

“After reviewing the initial information provided we have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab,” the ADC said.

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3 Palestinian college students shot in Vermont in alleged bias attack: ‘Another example of hate turning violent’

At least two of the men, including an Ivy League student at Brown University, were wearing traditional Keffiyeh scarves when they were wounded, said Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission in…

nypost.com

 

[knockout]

I see no information that would lead to any conclusion as to why they were shot

 

[thuumpr]

Hmmm.... Three men walking together, Arab, wearing Palestinian keffiyehs... Wounded...

And posted by Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission in the United Kingdom, in a post on X...

Let's see how this pans out.

 

[Burke]

I may be an idiot, but I'm fairly certain Burlington isn't the state capital of Vermont. That's Montpelier.

We do have some astounding racists in our state, but typically not of the level to identify a scarf associated with Palestinian loyalties.

Here's hoping they pull through and the gunman is quickly apprehended.

 

[McDanel]

Arrest made after 3 Palestinian college students shot in Burlington, Vermont, police say

Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, while visiting for Thanksgiving.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Symmachus]

Very sad that they have experienced this violent event. I hope all three men fully recover.
[automerge]1701057886[/automerge]
And... for those of you who are curious, don't know, or appreciate the clarification for other readers' sake: Burlington is the biggest town in Vermont at roughly 45,000 people, while Montpelier is the capital. Montpelier is also the smallest state capital in the USA.

The 10 Smallest State Capitals In The United States

But although many States and their respective capital cities comprise large populations, several of them host only modest numbers and dimensions.

www.worldatlas.com

 

[thuumpr]

I may be an idiot, but I'm fairly certain Burlington isn't the state capital of Vermont. That's Montpelier.

We do have some astounding racists in our state, but typically not of the level to identify a scarf associated with Palestinian loyalties.

Here's hoping they pull through and the gunman is quickly apprehended.

I'm still waiting to see where this goes... My gut is telling because of their ethnicity and the protests, this is a Smollett do over...

 

[thuumpr]

Arrest made after 3 Palestinian college students shot in Burlington, Vermont, police say​

Arrest made after 3 Palestinian college students shot in Burlington, Vermont, police say

Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, while visiting for Thanksgiving.

www.cbsnews.com

My bad... Need more fiber in my diet.

 

[Burke]

Gunman apprehended quickly! Huzzah!

And all parties expected to survive (if I interpreted that article correctly), also huzzah.

It should be pretty obvious whether or not this is a hate crime. I'm betting they'll take a look at Easton's associates and activities, and be able to tell, from that, his opinions on non-white people. I'll be surprised otherwise.

 

[BuffettGirl]

Aside from Dude's coloring, he doesn't look like any skinhead racist that I know of. We have a lot of them out here in the Pacific Northwest. They usually adopt the the 'Jax Teller' biker type look, not the college poetry professor look... Weird!

 

[Sejanus]

48 year old, thin necked, poorly groomed, vacant eyed white guy.
If only there was a clear motive.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The Vermont man charged with shooting three Palestinian college students had been fired from his financial services job just weeks earlier — as it emerged that he previously served as a Boy Scout leader.

Jason Eaton, 48, from Burlington, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder in Saturday’s shootings, was terminated from his role as a sales assistant at CUSO Financial Services on Nov. 8 after working there less than a year, the company said Monday, according to the Boston Globe.

“We are horrified by the shooting and are cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate. We have no further comment,” a CUSO spokeswoman said.

She declined to say why Eaton was let

Eaton’s recent employment history also included stints at Ameritrade in Fayetteville, New York, where he worked for less than two years, and at Edward Jones in East Syracuse, New York, where he was employed for under a year, according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records.

Eaton also listed additional jobs on his LinkedIn profile he had occupied over the years, including a farmer and craftsman, a night cleaner at a noodle shop, and a “social entrepreneur.”

Under “Volunteer Work,” Eaton wrote that he worked as a den leader with the Boy Scouts of America from 2017 to 2022.

The Boy Scouts of America confirmed to the Globe that Eaton had served as an assistant scoutmaster at a now-defunct troop in Syracuse, and was last registered with the organization in New York in 2021 when he voluntarily stopped being a member.

Eaton is not currently a member of the Boy Scouts of America, the group said.

“Mr. Eaton’s alleged actions do not reflect the values of Scouting. Upon learning of his arrest he was been banned from registering in any Scouting capacity and will be proactively placed in the Volunteer Screening Database, permanently preventing his registration or participation in the future,” the Boy Scouts said in the statement.

Suspect in shooting of Palestinian students was fired from finance job just weeks before attack

Suspect Jason Eaton worked in finance for many years and volunteered as a Boy Scout leader.

nypost.com

 

[BuffettGirl]

I'mma go out on a limb here. Mental health issues? Farmer, craftsman and night cleaner at a noodle shop? None of these are an indication of long term employment (stability) and excellent mental health...

 

[Blunderbuss Firozabad]

Kinnan Abdalhamid


"“On the way back, we see this man on his porch essentially looking away from us. He turns around, looks at us, and without saying a word — it was almost surreal — he went down the steps, pulled out a pistol and shot my friend,” Abdalhamid, 20, [said]"

"I heard the thud on the ground, and then he started screaming,” he added. “A split second later, he shot my other friend, and I hear this thud on the ground.”

Abdalhamid ran and jumped over the fence of a nearby house — “I believe that’s when he shot me,” he said.

He knocked on a neighbor’s door and that person called 911, and soon after, he realized he was shot. "

He also added that they had been conversing in Arabic as they walked down the road.

I'm pretty sure it was the keffiyehs.

The shooter would have to be quite a linguist and expert on regional Arabic dialects to figure out they were Palestinian from an overheard conversation.

Palestinian student wounded in Vermont shooting recalls seeing gunman open fire without saying a word

Kinnan Abdalhamid, 20, and his friends, also wounded in the Nov. 25 shooting, believe they were targeted for speaking Arabic and wearing Palestinian scarves. Officials haven’t disclosed a motive yet.

www.nbcnews.com