Three Palestinian graduates of Ramallah Friends School were shot on Saturday, November 25, in Burlington, Vt., in an attack authorities are investigating as a hate crime, according to the New York Times and a Facebook post on the school’s page. Hisham Awartani sustained a gunshot wound in the back; Tasheen Ahmed endured being shot in the chest; and Kinnan Abdalhamid suffered minor injuries, according to the Facebook post. Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island; Ahmed attends Trinity College in Connecticut; and Abdalhamid studies at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. The three remained in the hospital as of November 27. The longtime friends were walking to Awartani’s grandmother’s home in Burlington for Thanksgiving dinner when they were shot.
Left to right: Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdal Hamid, and Tahseen Aliahmad at the Ramallah Friends School graduation. Photos by the school’s photographer, 2021.
Police arrested Jason J. Eaton, 48, of Burlington, after searching his apartment, according to the New York Times. The shootings took place in front of Eaton’s building, the New York Times reported.
Two of the men were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian head coverings, and the group spoke a mixture of English and Arabic, according to the New York Times.
Eaton pled not guilty at a November 27 arraignment, according to the New York Times.
Two of the men are U.S. citizens and one is a legal resident, the Washington Post reports.
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