Updated at 10:52 p.m.
Three young Palestinian American men were shot Saturday night in Burlington after a white male confronted them with a handgun, according to the Burlington Police Department. Police said they were investigating whether the shootings were a hate crime but said they had not determined whether that was the case.
The shootings took place shortly before 6:30 p.m. on North Prospect Street. Without saying a word, the shooter fired at least four rounds from a pistol, striking two of the men in the torso and one in the lower extremities, police said in a press release issued early Sunday afternoon. Two of the victims were in stable condition and one sustained serious injuries.
The suspect fled by foot, police said, and was not immediately apprehended.
The department did not identify the victims but said they were all 20 years old and visiting relatives of one of the men over the Thanksgiving holiday. Police said all three are of Palestinian descent and that two are U.S. citizens and one a legal resident.
Family members of the men released a statement Sunday afternoon through the Institute for Middle East Understanding identifying them as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad. The family members said they were devastated by the shootings and focused on the recovery and well-being of the victims.
According to national advocacy groups and a Palestinian diplomat, the three are students at American universities: Awartani attends Brown University, Abdalhamid attends Haverford College and Aliahmad attends Trinity College. The Ramallah Friends Schools, a Quaker institution based in the West Bank, identified them as graduates.
Police did not immediately identify a motive for the shootings but noted that two of the men were wearing keffiyehs, a traditional scarf that has become a symbol of Palestinian identity, at the time of the shootings. In written statements, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad and Mayor Miro Weinberger alluded to the possibility that the men were victims of a hate crime but said authorities had not confirmed that.
“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” Murad said, referring to the ongoing Israel-Hamas War in Gaza. “And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”
Murad said that authorities were investigating every possible angle but said much remained unknown.
“The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now,” he said. “But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”
Several national organizations quickly condemned the shootings and described them as a hate crime, as did the victims’ family members.
“We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime,” the family members said in their written statement. “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.”
In a written statement, Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, referred to the shootings as a hate crime and called on law enforcement officials to treat it as such. The Council on American-Islamic Relations offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for it.
The shootings took place seven weeks after Hamas militants waged an attack on Israeli citizens and soldiers, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds more. The Israeli military has since conducted an intense offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 13,000 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — according to Gaza Health Ministry figures reported by the Associated Press.
Murad said the Burlington Police Department was coordinating with state and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as prosecutors. According to national news outlets, including NBC News, President Joe Biden was briefed on the shootings.
In a statement Sunday afternoon, Sarah Ruane, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albany office said, “We are aware of the incident in Burlington and are working with our state and local partners in Vermont. If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.”
Nikolas Kerest, the U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont, condemned the shootings in a statement Sunday night and said that federal law enforcement officials were “conducting the investigation into the identity of the shooter and the shooter’s motives in a careful and deliberate manner.”
“The United State Attorney’s Office and the Civil Rights Division will assess the evidence generated to determine whether a federal crime may have been committed,” Kerest said.
Public officials weighed in on the shootings throughout the day Sunday.
“Violence of any kind against any person in our community is totally unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to find the perpetrator and hold them fully accountable,” Weinberger, the mayor of Burlington, said in a written statement. “That there is an indication this shooting could have been motivated by hate is chilling, and this possibility is being prioritized in the (police department’s) investigation. The City of Burlington has zero tolerance for hate crimes and will work relentlessly to bring the shooter to justice.”
In a separate statement, Gov. Phil Scott called the shootings a tragedy and said the state had offered its full support to the city, the Palestinian community and residents of Burlington.
“I urge Vermonters to unite to help the community heal, and not let this incident incite more hate or divisiveness,” Scott said. “We must come together in these difficult times — it is the only way to put a stop to the violence we’re seeing.”
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the shootings were “shocking and deeply upsetting.” He added, “Hate has no place here, or anywhere.”
On Sunday evening approximately 150 people gathered in front of Burlington City Hall to speak out against the shootings and advocate for Palestinian rights. They held battery-operated candles, waved Palestinian flags and displayed signs calling for Palestinian statehood.
Wafic Faour, a Palestinian and a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, was among the speakers.
“It is a strange day for me today because usually, for the last 52 days, I’ve been calling my family every day — sometimes 10, 20 times — to know how are they, and today I received so many calls from my family members to ask how am I,” he said. “Is that possible? In Vermont? Yes, it is possible.”
Faour said he had little doubt about what had motivated the shootings.
“What kind of a crime? It’s a hate crime. What kind of a crime?” he asked.
“Hate crime!” the crowd chanted.
“What kind of a crime?” Faour repeated.
“A hate crime,” the crowd responded.
Other speakers criticized politicians, law enforcement officials, university leaders and the media for actions they said led to the violence.
One speaker, who wore a head covering and would identify himself only as a member of the University of Vermont’s Students for Justice in Palestine, called the shootings “a crime of unspeakable racist hatred, a crime borne out of white supremacy, out of fascist, genocidal malice, a crime borne out of zionism.”
He specifically criticized leaders of Jewish and pro-Israel student groups on campus, referring to them as “shameless monsters who enabled this.”
He shouted, “We say to them, ‘You enabled this! The blood is also on your hands! We do not want your sympathy! Each of those three men could have been our members. For all we know, we could have been the intended target. We do not want your solidarity against hate. You are the hate!’”
Participants in the rally chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that has been characterized by some as an antisemitic call for the destruction of Israel and by others as a peaceful call for Palestinian self-determination.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman was the sole politician to speak at the rally. He decried what he called a cycle of harm, pain and anger “that’s now gone on for thousands of years” and said he worried about “finger-pointing” that could perpetuate the cycle.
“I’m here in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are in deep pain today and tomorrow and yesterday and back to October 7 and beyond before that,” Zuckerman said. “To work towards a better solution than finger-pointing and anger, because the next thing after anger is going to be more harm and more pain.”
Olivia Pintair contributed reporting.
