Vermont shooting updates: Palestinian victims’ families share message about suspect Jason Eaton
Jason Eaton is accused of shooting three Palestinian students in Vermont in a possible hate crime
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The families of three Palestinian students injured in a shooting near the University of Vermont have sent a message condemning certain media coverage of the suspect, Jason Eaton.
The three 20-year-olds – Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmad – were ambushed by a gunman as they walked to a family Thanksgiving in Burlington on Saturday night. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime.
Mr Eaton, 48, was arrested the next day near the scene of the attack. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder.
In the wake of his arrest, Mr Eaton’s mother alleged that he suffered from depression. In a statement on Tuesday, the families of the victims denounced media reports deflecting blame for the shooting on the suspect’s alleged mental health struggles.
“We do not accept what this wrongfully implies about people who struggle with their mental health, nor do we accept it as justification or context for this heinous, hate-driven crime,” they wrote.
Also on Tuesday, NBC News unearthed police reports in which Mr Eaton’s ex-girlfriend accused him of sending her “harassing” messages of a sexual nature in 2019.
One student discharged from hospital as other two remain in ICU: family member
Elizabeth Price, mother of Hisham Awartani, says one of the injured students has been discharged from the hospital while the other two remain in the Intensive Care Unit.
“One of [the students] who had a more superficial wound has been released from the hospital,” Ms Price told ABC News Monday evening. “Another one has a chest wound which I think is quite painful and he’s remaining in the ICU for the for the timebeing.”
Mr Awartani, whose injuries are the most severe, is expected to stay in the ICU for at least another week before he’s transferred to the spinal injury ward of the hospital, Ms Price told ABC News. The gunman struck Mr Awartani in his spine, and doctors fear he may never walk again, his mother previously said.
Mr Awartani is “tired but resolute” after the bullet lodged in his spine has left him unable to move his legs, Ms Price said.
Ex-girlfriend of suspected gunman told police he harassed her
An ex-girlfriend of suspected gunman Jason Eaton told police four years ago he was harassing her with sexual messages, NBC News reports.
The then-36-year-old woman told police in DeWitt, New York on 21 October 2019 that Mr Eaton had sent her “numerous text messages, emails and phone calls,” after making it clear she did not want any contact with him, according to department reports obtained by NBC. She said the messages were sexual in nature but not threatening.
The woman contacted police after allegedly seeing Mr Eaton outside her home. She had also had “several domestic disputes” with Mr Eaton, an officer wrote in their report per NBC.
She did not press any charges against Mr Eaton.
Students call on Brown University to divest from Israel during vigil for injured student
Students at Brown University staged a protest calling for the school to divest from Israel during a vigil in support of injured student Hisham Awartani.
Christina Paxson, the school’s president, spoke at the Monday evening vigil for 20-year-old student Hisham Awartani, who is receiving treatment in the ICU after the gunman struck him in the spine.
“Although we don’t know the details yet, it is horrific that the mere fact that Hisham and his friends were simply being who they are, proud Palestinians, wearing keffiyehs, speaking in Arabic, that may be what prompted the shooting,” she said at the vigil, according to The Providence Journal.
The three students targeted by the gunman were wearing keffiyehs, scarves typically checkered in black and white or red and white that symbolize Palestinian identity.
Several attendees shouted at Ms Paxson to divest from Israel and held signs carrying a similar message, the Journal reported.
“This is how you want to honor your friend? I’m sorry,” Ms Paxson told the crowd as she walked away from the podium, per the Journal. Students chanted “shame” as she left.
Mother of student with spinal injury traveling to US from West Bank
Elizabeth Price, mother to Hisham Awartani, is traveling to the US from Ramallah, West Bank to be with her son.
Ms Price spoke to CNN while in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday morning on her way to Vermont. She said Jordan’s King Abdullah II had reached out to offer his support.
Mr Awartani is in the Intensive Care Unit of a Vermont hospital as of Tuesday afternoon while he receives treatment for a bullet lodged in his spine. Ms Price told CNN Mr Awartani also has a broken clavicle and broken thumb. Mr Awartani can feel but not move his legs — doctors fear he will never walk again, Ms Price previously said.
Student with spinal injury immobilizing his legs is ‘very resilient’ and trying to keep spirits up, mother says
As 20-year-old Hisham Awartani rests in the Intensive Care Unit of a Vermont hospital, he’s trying to remain calm and keep everyone’s spirits up, his mother says.
“He’s just a very resilient young man and he’s been trying to keep everyone’s spirits up by joking and just trying to be as calm as possible,” Elizabeth Price told CNN. “We are determined to work with him and support him and get the best possible care.”
Mr Awartani has a bullet lodged in his spine and will likely remain in the ICU for at least a week, his mother previously said. He has lost mobility in his legs but can still feel them, according to Ms Price.
Now that the initial shock of Saturday’s attack has worn off, Mr Awartani is grappling with the larger implications of the attack on him and his two friends, Ms Price told NBC News.
“The short-term shock is now evolving into something more complex as he tries to frame who he is in the world and what it means to be safe in America, particularly when you get shot down the street from your granny’s house in a street he’s basically grown up on.”
Federal investigators are currently looking into whether the gunman can be charged with a hate crime.
Hundreds in Burlington, Vermont rallied to honor the three students attacked by the gunman
Hundreds attended a rally in Burlington, Vermont on Sunday in support of the three Palestinian students shot by a random attacker over the weekend.
Local outlet Vermont Public spoke to several attendees, including Wafic Faour, a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine.
“Today, I received so many calls from my family members to ask me, ‘How am I? Is that possible? In Vermont?’ Yes, it is possible,” Faour told Vermont Public.
Vermont’s Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman also spoke at the rally.
“I just felt it was really important to be there in solidarity with the community that was feeling such trauma and grief,” Zuckerman told Vermont Public on Monday.
“This is a real awakening, or another awakening, for many Vermonters that, that we’re not free from hate here in our amazing little state,” he added.
Injured Brown University student previously spoke at a vigil honoring those killed in Israel-Hamas conflict
Hisham Awartani, a junior at Brown University in the ICU with a spinal injury following Saturday’s shooting, previously spoke at a vigil for those killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
The vigil was organized by Brown University’s Students for Justice in Palestine just days after the ongoing Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October.
“If Palestinians had to hold vigils every time our people were massacred, we would be bankrupt from buying candles,” Mr Awartani said at last month’s vigil, per the Brown Daily Herald. “There is no respite for us.”
The same organization posted a statement from Mr Awartani following the gunman’s attack last week.
“It’s important to recognize that this is part of the larger story,” Mr Awartani wrote in a statement posted on the organization’s Instagram. “This hideous crime did not happen in a vacuum. As much as I appreciate and love every single one of you here today, I am but one casualty in this much wider conflict.”
Burlington mayor addresses gun violence in Vermont in the wake of attack against three Palestinian students
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger told reporters Monday that Vermont must reckon with incidents of gun violence in the state after a gunman shot three Palestinian students walking to a Thanksgiving celebration last week.
“We must reckon with the reality that Vermont has one of if not the highest rate of gun deaths in New England,” Mr Weinberger said on Monday.
The mayor also called on residents to stand against hate in the wake of the attack.
“We must see the humanity in each other and unite as one community and one state that will not tolerate this hate,” Mr Weinberger said.
Federal officers are looking into whether the attack was a hate crime. The suspected gunman, Jason Eaton, faces three charges of attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Suspected gunman moved to Vermont just months before attack, police say
Investigators believe suspected gunman Jason Eaton moved to Vermont over the summer, just months before the shooting of three Palestinian students last week, Burlington Chief of Police Jon Murad said on Monday.
Mr Murad said the suspect previously lived in or near Syracuse, New York.
Mr Eaton’s ex-girlfriend had previously called the police in DeWitt, New York — a town just a few miles outside of Syracuse — to report Mr Eaton had sent her “numerous text messages, emails and phone calls,” after making it clear she did not want any contact with him, according to reports reviewed by NBC News.
Suspect told arresting officer ‘I’ve been waiting for you’
Jon Murad, chief of police for the Burlington Police Department, told reporters on Monday that suspected gunman Jason Eaton told an ATF officer he was waiting for them when they knocked on his door on Sunday.
“Agents were greeted by a man who stepped out of the hall out of the door towards them with his palms up at waist height,” Mr Murad said. “He stated something to the effect of: ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’”
Mr Murad then told officers he’d like a lawyer and that he had one gun in the apartment.
Officials say the 48-year-old suspect came to Vermont from Syracuse, New York over the summer.
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