Gun Culture
The cold-blooded murder of three young Muslim students seems to have been triggered by some banal neighbour dispute over parking, but as ever in America the news media is full of claim and counter-claim long before the facts of the incident are known.
In the meantime the lives of three people with everything to live for have been cruelly snuffed out and whatever other factors may have been at work, America's gun culture has claimed more innocent victims.
Three US Muslims shot dead in ‘hate crime’ sparked by parking dispute
Yusor Abu-Salha, left, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha
By Matt Spence - The Times
The murder of three Muslim students at a small town American university is being investigated as a possible anti-Islamic hate crime after a radical atheist who had regularly spoken out against religious extremism gave himself up to police.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts after turning himself in for the killings in the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, late yesterday afternoon.
The three killed, all shot in the head at their apartment, were Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Police said the murders were sparked by a dispute over parking.
Mr Barakat was a Syrian-American dental student at the University of North Carolina who had raised money to provide dental care for Syrian refugees in Turkey. His wife – the couple had only been married a month – had also been due to study dentistry and her sister was a student at North Carolina State University. The two women had been wearing traditional Muslim headscarves at the time of the murder.
Shock at the killings went beyond the tight-knit campus town and prompted comparison with the Islamist murders at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Chris Blue, the Chapel Hill police chief, said in a statement: “Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking.
“Our investigators are exploring what could have motivated Mr Hicks to commit such a senseless and tragic act. We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case.
“Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these young people who lost their lives so needlessly.”
Mr Hicks’ wife, Karen, later gave a press conference in which she insisted that the shootings “had nothing to do with the victims’ religious beliefs” and everything to do with a “mundane” row over parking which had caused her husband “longstanding frustration”.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on authorities to address speculation about a possible hate crime.
“Based on the brutal nature of this crime, the past anti-religion statements of the alleged perpetrator, the religious attire of two of the victims, and the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society, we urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to quickly address speculation of a possible bias motive in this case,” said Nihad Awad, the group’s executive director.
On his Facebook page, Mr Hicks had posted frequently about religion. In January, he shared a quote that read, “People say nothing can solve the Middle East problem. Not meditation, not arms, not financial aid. I say there is something. Atheism.”
A day later, Mr Barakat wrote on Twitter, “It’s so freaking sad to hear people saying we should ‘kill Jews’ or ‘Kill Palestinians’. As if that’s going to solve anything.”
Among those condemning the murders was the British academic and atheist Richard Dawkins, whose works Mr Hicks had praised online. “How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three young US Muslims in Chapel Hill?” he wrote on Twitter.
The murder of three Muslim students at a small town American university is being investigated as a possible anti-Islamic hate crime after a radical atheist who had regularly spoken out against religious extremism gave himself up to police.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts after turning himself in for the killings in the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, late yesterday afternoon.
The three killed, all shot in the head at their apartment, were Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Police said the murders were sparked by a dispute over parking.
Mr Barakat was a Syrian-American dental student at the University of North Carolina who had raised money to provide dental care for Syrian refugees in Turkey. His wife – the couple had only been married a month – had also been due to study dentistry and her sister was a student at North Carolina State University. The two women had been wearing traditional Muslim headscarves at the time of the murder.
Shock at the killings went beyond the tight-knit campus town and prompted comparison with the Islamist murders at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Chris Blue, the Chapel Hill police chief, said in a statement: “Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking.
“Our investigators are exploring what could have motivated Mr Hicks to commit such a senseless and tragic act. We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case.
“Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these young people who lost their lives so needlessly.”
Mr Hicks’ wife, Karen, later gave a press conference in which she insisted that the shootings “had nothing to do with the victims’ religious beliefs” and everything to do with a “mundane” row over parking which had caused her husband “longstanding frustration”.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on authorities to address speculation about a possible hate crime.
“Based on the brutal nature of this crime, the past anti-religion statements of the alleged perpetrator, the religious attire of two of the victims, and the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society, we urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to quickly address speculation of a possible bias motive in this case,” said Nihad Awad, the group’s executive director.
On his Facebook page, Mr Hicks had posted frequently about religion. In January, he shared a quote that read, “People say nothing can solve the Middle East problem. Not meditation, not arms, not financial aid. I say there is something. Atheism.”
A day later, Mr Barakat wrote on Twitter, “It’s so freaking sad to hear people saying we should ‘kill Jews’ or ‘Kill Palestinians’. As if that’s going to solve anything.”
Among those condemning the murders was the British academic and atheist Richard Dawkins, whose works Mr Hicks had praised online. “How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three young US Muslims in Chapel Hill?” he wrote on Twitter.
