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Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Tahseen Ahmed — who were all identified by their families and are all 20 years old — were visiting family friends over the Thanksgiving break when they were shot while walking along North Prospect Street in Burlington at 6:25 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25, Burlington Chief of Police Jon Murad detailed in a release.
An unidentified "white male with a handgun [...] without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot. All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities," Chief Murad said, adding the following:
"All three victims are of Palestinian descent. Two are US citizens and one is a legal resident. Two were wearing keffiyehs at the time of the assault. At this time, there is no additional information to suggest the suspect’s motive, such as statements or remarks by the suspect."
He also released the following statement after confirming that the suspect had not been located as of Monday morning:
“My deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families. In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime. And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven. But now that the victims are safe and receiving medical care, our next priority is identifying, locating, and apprehending the suspect. We’re working every investigatory angle on this case, and will continue to provide reliable, factual information to public while protecting the victims and our investigation. The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now. But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”
However, around 2 a.m., citing police, ABC News reported that 48-year-old Jason J. Eaton of Burlington, VT, was detained following a warranted search of his home at 9:53 p.m. on Sunday. They quoted the police writing: “Evidence collected during that search warrant, and additional evidence developed during the course of this investigation, gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,”
Nikolas P. Kerest, United States Attorney for the District of Vermont, made the following statement reading in part:
“The United States Attorney’s Office and the Civil Rights Division will assess the evidence generated to determine whether a federal crime may have been committed.”
All three men were taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where two were in “stable condition” while one sustained “much more serious injuries,” police said.
The men are alumni of the Ramallah Friends School, a private Quaker school in the West Bank, according to a Facebook post by the school. The post detailed the men's injuries "Hisham has been shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest, and Kinnan with minor injuries." The school noted the colleges these young men are currently attending: "Hisham studies at Brown University, Kinnan studies at Haverford University, and Tahseen studies at Trinity College."
The Delaware County, PA-based, Haverford College posted a statement on Facebook following the news of the shooting:
Kinnan is a registered EMT sprinter according to his Instagram profile.
Hisham is the great-nephew of a Palestinian Authority former education minister, Marwan Awartani, who told the New York Times that the bullet that struck him, "touched his spinal cord and that he lost feeling in the lower part of his body."
Tahseen is in stable condition, but Trinity College said in a statement: “At this moment, please keep Tahseen and his friends in your heart."
The men's families also issued a joint statement on the shooting on X, previously known as Twitter, claiming this was a hate crime:
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also feels this incident was possibly a hate crime, “we have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab." This is a sentiment Hamaza Zomlot, the Palestinian Mission to the UK's Ambassador echoed on X.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Burlington Police Department at (802) 658-2704.
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