Awartani and Ali Ahmad fell to the ground screaming, and Awartani called 911, according to the documents. Outside a white house, Awartani said, a man walked up to them, pulled a handgun and started shooting when he was about six feet away, according to the affidavit. Ali Ahmad and Awartani were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian headscarves. On Saturday, they went for a walk after going bowling for Awartani’s 8-year-old cousin’s birthday, and they were smoking cigarettes and chatting in a mixture of English and Arabic, according to the affidavit. Kinnan Abdalhamid, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and Hisham Awartani, all 20, had been in Burlington since the day before Thanksgiving and were staying at Awartani’s grandmother’s house on North Prospect Street, they told police in interviews after the shooting. “Since the outbreak of the war, across North America and in California in particular there has been a precipitous rise in anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and hate crimes reported to police that is both diverse by offense and often public and brazen.”īurlington Mayor Miro Weinberger called the shooting “one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history.” “We could see decade highs in anti-Muslim hate crime and possible records in anti-Jewish hate crimes after final data comes in,” said Brian Levin, who ran the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino until last month. At times, the tension has erupted into violence, including the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy in a Chicago suburb in what was described by authorities as a hate crime, as well as manslaughter and battery charges in the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man who suffered a head injury at a Thousand Oaks protest.

remain on high alert amid a surge in reported hate crimes against the groups.

The shooting comes amid a pause in fighting nearly two months into the Israel-Hamas war, as Jewish, Palestinian and Arab communities in the U.S. “We still do not know as much as we want to know.” “There is more investigation to be done, and that includes trying to determine motive,” Murad said at a news conference Monday morning. Police have not yet declared a motive, but the case is being investigated as a possible hate crime, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said. He pleaded not guilty Monday morning to three counts of attempted murder. Other federal agents and local police were canvassing the area and the building.Įaton, 48, was arrested Sunday afternoon in connection with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent the night before, leaving at least one of the men in serious condition. “Why’s that?” a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked. “I’ve been waiting for you,” Jason Eaton told the officer, according to court documents released Monday. From inside came the sound of a television. in Burlington, Vt., a tall, thin man with a beard and goatee stepped out into the hallway with his hands by his waist, palms up. When a federal agent knocked on the door of apartment No.

Shotgun house layout