A dispute over a parking space incited the murder of three North Carolina college students – Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19 – on Tuesday, Chapel Hill Police’s preliminary investigation pointed to the dispute. However, father of two of the victims insists that the killing was driven by hate as the alleged killer was his daughter’s neighbour and had threatened them earlier.
“It was execution-style, a bullet in every head. This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far. Honest to God, he hates us for what we are and how we look,” Yusor and Razan’s father, Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, told the Raleigh News-Observer.
“They lived a clean life, never gave us a bad day. We raised them in our faith. We raised them to love their country and their people, and everybody’s heart is broken. Everybody. All walks of life. The whole city did not sleep last night,” the distraught father said.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself in after the shooting, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His hearing was set for March 4.
“We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated, and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case,” Police Chief Chris Blue said. “Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these young people who lost their lives so needlessly”.
The hashtag #ChapelHillShooting went viral after the incident was reported.
Whatever emerges from the #ChapelHillShooting, pray for the families of Deah Barakat and Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha. pic.twitter.com/BMn9kwOpks
— Joe Catron (@jncatron) February 11, 2015
No breaking news here !? @CNN @BBCWorld @FOXTV @washingtonpost @NewYorkTimes11 #ChapelHillshooting pic.twitter.com/Gm1mFafaIW
— Rasha (@rbarghash) February 11, 2015
If a Muslim executed 3 Christian students in U.S., it would get a LOT more media coverage than I’m seeing right now. #ChapelHillShooting
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 11, 2015
Well said#ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/iZw1k3P941
— يمنى | yumna (@itsyumna_D) February 12, 2015
This picture speaks a 1000 words #ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/0ngcF2wk63
— Abdul Raheem Rudolph (@rudol9h) February 12, 2015
Thanks for all the great people who stand with the family of the 3 victims in #ChapelHillShooting. #Humanity pic.twitter.com/3Ruoj5IaEY
— Said Shoaib سعيدشعيب (@saidshouib) February 12, 2015
My heart goes out to the families and friends of these victims.. No one can control 3 adults unless by a threat to their lives !! This should never happen…. If they are going to spy on civilians, spy on the haters ! Fix the mess you created !
Terrorism or hate crime…..neither. Nothing but a idiot fed up over nothing acting stupidly and murdering three innocent people all because he got brain dead and acted like a moron. There are other ways to resolve a parking space problem…like moving around the parking lot to find another spot or just waiting for another spot to open up. Honestly I do not thing religion or race had anything to do with this, but stupidity sure enough did. And what is becoming a even bigger problem, is the fact that the mass media is blowing this thing all out of proportion while up in Washington our government is passing new statutes and laws to rake in the dough by imposing new fines, taxes just to show us how gullible some people can be. Sorry for standing on my soapbox and preaching, but propaganda like this news story that everyone is talking about is only adding fuel to a already burning fire..end eventually its us who gets burned.
Nah. You’re blind if you think this wasn’t a hate crime. The parking dispute could have just been a trigger for hatred his heart already held. Regardless it’s a shame this is getting dismissed so easily.
If you think this was over a parking space,don’t even read the rest of what I say.This was an ignorant redneck acting on his prejudices against Muslims.Go ahead,keep sensationalizing ISIS atrocities,the establishment of Sharia Law and promoting the friction between Christians and Muslims.The result will be people who are too short on intelligence and way to long on hate and prejudice to act this way.I bet he calls himself a Christian.
This story breaks my heart