The man suspected of shooting three New England college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, on Saturday night was arrested a day later as new details on what what happened were revealed and officials committed to supporting affected communities.
Jason J. Eaton, 48, appeared in court Monday, pleading not guilty to three counts of attempted murder in the second degree. He was held without bail pending a second court hearing in Chittenden County Superior Court.
All three students — Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahdmed — remained in intensive care , according to Awartani's uncle, Rich Price, whose house they were staying at for Thanksgiving. He said at a news conference that fact that the shooting took place "speaks to the level of civic vitriol, speaks to the level of hatred that exists in some corners of this country, it speaks to a sickness of gun violence that exists in this country."
President Joe Biden was monitoring the incident, which comes amid the Israel-Hamas War, and spoke with Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger Monday, Weinberger said, saying at the news conference that the shooting is "one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city's history."
Police shared details of the shooting. Court documents showed the victims were shot in the spine, chest and glute, NBC News reported, and Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad confirmed that Eaton allegedly told a federal agent investigating the shooting something to the effect of "I've been waiting for you," as well as that a pistol, loaded magazine and pistol ammunition were found at his home.
Eaton was detained Sunday afternoon, when agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encountered him during a search of the shooting area, Murad said.
Evidence collected during a search of Eaton's apartment, which is nearby where the shooting occurred, "gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting," police said in a statement.
The young men told investigators they were speaking a mix of Arabic and English and two were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, when the gunman appeared, opening fire without saying anything, Murad said.
"He stepped off a porch, produced a firearm and began discharging that firearm," the police chief said.
Prosecutors said that Eaton's prosecution would follow the evidence. Sarah George, Chittenden County state's attorney, made a point of saying that, "although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear there is no question this is a hateful act."
Biden echoed that in a statement released Monday afternoon, in which he said he and first lady Jill Biden were "horrified to learn" of the shooting: "While we are waiting for more facts, we know this: there is absolutely no place for violence or hate in America. Period. No person should worry about being shot at while going about their daily lives. And far too many Americans know a family member injured or killed as a result of gun violence. We cannot and we will not accept that."
Police had previously said the gunman was a white man who said nothing as he fired at least four rounds from a pistol at the three victims around 6:25 p.m. Saturday on North Prospect Street near the University of Vermont campus.
The police chief said all three men are 20 years old and are of Palestinian descent. Two are U.S. citizens and one is a legal resident. Two of the men were wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves at the time of the shooting, according to police, and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee said they were also speaking Arabic.
“Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled,” Murad said in a statement. “All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities.”
The victims’ families identified them on Sunday as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed. Awartani is a student at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania; and Ahmed is a student at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson said Awartani was expected to survive. Haverford College said Abdalhamid was recovering from a gunshot wound at a Burlington hospital. The president of Trinity College said Ahmed was in stable condition at a hospital, NBC News reported.
The victims' families have called on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating the triple shooting as a hate crime.
"We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice. We need to ensure that our children are protected, and this heinous crime is not repeated," their statement read before the arrest was announced. "No family should ever have to endure this pain and agony."
Awartani's mother told NBC News on Monday that the shooting took place around the corner from his grandmother's house.
"He's been going there since he was 8 or maybe 10," said Elizabeth Price, in an interview from the West Bank. "So for him to have that taken away from him, I don’t know what that means for any of the boys and their ability to function normally."
"This is somebody who goes to this school, who has been just put under a horrible act of violence and hate," said sophomore Pascale Carvalho.
"There's a lot of political division on the campus and throughout the country, but I've seen people from both sides here just agree that this is absolutely tragic," said senior Marc Fernandez.
"They apply to these schools abroad so they can get the best education possible," Marwah Al-Jilani, who taught two of the childhood friends at Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank before they came to the U.S. for college, told NBC10 Boston. "And for them to deal with this kind of violence, for simply, you know, just being who they are — they're extremely proud to be Palestinian, and especially with what's happening, they aren't going to hide their Palestinian identity."
The FBI and ATF continued to investigate the shooting as of Monday morning, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas War, anti-Arab and anti-Jewish attacks have been on the rise in the U.S. and around the world. Last month, an Illinois landlord was charged with a hate crime after being accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother in Chicago.
