Police in Vermont have arrested a suspect in the shooting of three 20-year-old students of Palestinian descent Saturday. All three survived, though one is said to have suffered “much more serious injuries.” Two of the men were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic at the time of the attack. The young men were identified as Hisham Awartani, a Brown University student; Kinnan Abdalhamid, of Haverford College; and Tahseen Ahmad, a student at Trinity College. The families of the victims and advocacy groups urged authorities to investigate the shooting as a hate crime amid a spike in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim attacks in the U.S. The suspect, Jason J. Eaton, is being arraigned today.
Meanwhile, the Indian American Muslim Council is calling for authorities to investigate a possible hate crime motive in the November 17 stabbing of two Muslim students of Indian origin in Fremont, California. The attacks occurred at a busy shopping and dining area in broad daylight and left cousins Syed Shadan ul Haq and Khalid Bin Masood Yafai with critical injuries. The suspect, Miguel Angel Villareal, has been charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder.