A 48-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder over the shooting of three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont.
Jason J Eaton, who appeared in court in Burlington, was arrested near the site of the shooting on Sunday.
Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid were attacked near the University of Vermont on Saturday.
The men were speaking Arabic and two were wearing keffiyeh – a traditional scarf – when they were shot.
The three men, who are all aged 20, were visiting the home of one of their relatives over the Thanksgiving holiday when a white man confronted them with a gun outside the property, police said.
He allegedly fired at least four rounds at them without speaking and then fled.
Two of the victims were shot in the torso while the third was hit in his lower extremities, police said. Two are in a stable condition while the third sustained more serious injuries.
The attack comes as the US deals with a surge in Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents, including violent assaults and online harassment, since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on 7 October.
The FBI has warned of potential attacks by “homegrown violent extremists” since the war began.
Police have not given a potential motive in the shooting.
Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad urged the public to avoid jumping to conclusions “based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less” than investigators.
“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” he said. “I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”—BBC
