A suspect, identified as Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested on Sunday afternoon in the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, Reuters reports citing CNN. Police are investigating the attack as a suspected hate-motivated crime.
The victims were reported to have been speaking Arabic when attacked, according to the Institute for Middle East Understanding, a nonprofit pro-Palestinian advocacy organization, which also said the assailant opened fire on the three men after he began to shout at and harass them. Police say he fired four shots without saying a word.
The shooting came amid a rise in anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic incidents reported around the United States since a wave of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed erupted in the Middle East on Oct 7.
“The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent,” ADC National Executive Director Abed Ayoub said.
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