A heart-wrenching incident happened in the United States after three Palestinian college students were shot dead in Vermonts Burlington on Saturday evening, according to the media reports.3 Palestinian students shot in USs BurlingtonAs per the reports, the students were reportedly walking on Prospect Street after visiting a relative in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday when a white man confronted them with a handgun.The victims, two of whom are US citizens and one a legal resident, were rushed to the University of Vermont Medical Center for medical care, according to a statement issued by the police on Sunday, as reported by CNN.What is condition of those Palestinian studentsTwo are stable, while one has sustained much more serious injuries, the police said in its release.Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot, police said.Notably, two of the students were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, the police added.Two students sustained injuries to the torso, while the third suffered injuries to the lower extremities.However, the authorities said, there is no additional information to suggest the suspects motive.Families seek hate crime probe Meanwhile, the relatives of three Palestinian-American college students killed in a mysterious shooting over the weekend are urging authorities to investigate the attack as a hate crime.We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice, the victims families said Sunday in a joint statement.We pray for the 3 #Palestinian college students shot in Vermont.Anti-Palestinian rhetoric from zionist & electeds like @BernieSanders @SenSanders make our community targets.Statement from families of Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid & Tahseen Ali Ahmad. #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/hF8HFi6Juf— US Palestinian Community Network (@uspcn) November 26, 2023The students – named Rhode Islands Brown University student Hisham Awartani, Pennsylvanias Haverford College student Kinnan Abdalhamid and Connecticuts Trinity College student Tahseen Ahmad – were shot dead in Albuquerque city.Ballistic evidence has been recovered from the site and submitted to federal databases, the Burlington Police Department said. The FBI also offered assistance with probes still at an early stage.The families emphasised that no family should endure such agony and that the dedicated students deserved to focus on their education and futures in safety.Advocacy groups identified the victims as being of Palestinian descent and called for a full investigation into a possible biased motive, given spiking hate incidents nationwide targeting people of Arab or Muslim backgrounds.Hate crimes against Palestinians in USTensions have escalated this year amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In October, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed in what authorities labelled an anti-Arab hate crime.While the shooters behind Saturdays killings remain unidentified and at large, the citys Palestinian community voiced fear over growing threats and harassment targeting them. They demanded accountability and for political leaders to help curb rising xenophobia.
