Man arrested after 3 shot to death in North Carolina

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Man arrested after 3 shot to death in North Carolina
| February 11, 2015

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Police say three people have been shot to death at a condominium complex east of the University of North Carolina campus and a man has been arrested.

Chapel Hill police told local news outlets that Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was arrested and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He is being held at the Durham County Jail.

Police were responding to a report of gunshots around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday when they found three people who were pronounced dead at the scene. The dead were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill; Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.

Police said the investigation was continuing.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Man-arrested-after-3-shot-to-death-in-North-6074536.php

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[center]

Craig Stephen Hicks[/center]
3 shot to death in Chapel Hill, man charged
http://abc11.com/news/3-shot-to-death-in-chapel-hill-man-charged/512086/

[atreides1]

1. Now we wait

Could this have been something as simple as a burglary gone bad...or something worse?

Hopefully the police will be able to find out what happened, soon!

[JI7]

4. looks like hate crime by an atheist

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Sadly, that looks quite likely

The man arrested on suspicion of killing three young Muslims in North Carolina described himself as an “anti-theist” and criticised all religions online.

Police said 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks handed himself in to officers in Chapel Hill overnight in the wake of the deaths of 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

He has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. As tributes poured in for the young family, a Facebook page in Hicks’ name showed that he read paralegal studies at Durham Technical Community College and described himself as a supporter of “Atheists for Equality”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chapel-hill-shooting-craig-stephen-hicks-condemned-all-religions-on-facebook-prior-to-muslim-massmurder-arrest-10038126.html

A violent murderer, whatever his motivations turn out to be.

[atreides1]

7. Hard to believe

Why go after 3 people of what is obviously a minority religion in the area, with so many targets of opportunity that are Christian all over the place?

Something here doesn't fit...there is more to this that simple explanation!

Stay tuned...

http://www.wral.com/chapel-hill-police-parking-dispute-may-have-led-to-triple-shooting/14438074/

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Hard to see how 3 people are all involved on one side of a parking dispute

It smacks of killing one or more of them 'because they're all the same'.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

13. Not hard to believe at all.

New atheists go after Muslims much harder than Christians. Look at Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc. It has been even worse within the last month.

[JI7]

14. why go after anyone innocent ?

[Judi Lynn]

28. It's very possible he saw these 3 "Muslins" as unworthy of a parking spot in "his" country,

and believed they should defer to him, since he was an "Amurcan."

Since the women wore traditional clothing, he probably "made" them long before as his natural enemies, had he been right-wing, ignorant, and racist, anyway.

[Tempest]

20. Wrong

It was a dispute over a parking space. His atheism and the victim's religion had nothing to do with it.

[JI7]

21. based on what we know about him i think their religion

Is why he shot them over something like parking

[Tempest]

23. What you think is irrelevant

Not even the authorities believe they were targeted over their religion.

And people are shot for far less than a parking spot in this country.

[JI7]

24. and "authorities" say race had nothing to do with trayvon martin and othet

Unarmed black kids being killed.

[hrmjustin]

33. So he claims. i don't take him st his word, especially when he coukd be facing the death penalty.

[guillaumeb]

27. no

it looks like a crime of violence committed by a violent person with a gun

[adieu]

2. Placing my bet on

anti-muslim hate crime. (Doesn't require the victims to be muslim, just enough that their names, and probably their features, are muslimish.)

[OldRedneck]

3. "Three young Muslims killed"

News sources are reporting the three killed were "young Muslims."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chapel-hill-shooting-three-young-muslims-gunned-down-in-north-carolina-at-their-family-home-10037734.html


http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/10/4545775/three-people-shot-dead-in-chapel.html


https://truthaholics.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/chapelhillshooting-craig-stephen-hicks-charged-with-1st-degree-murder-islamophobia-muslimlivesmatter/

I can hardly wait to hear the Fox, Rush, Beck spin.

[Ford_Prefect]

6. duplicated topic with further discussion: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026210431

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Was it a DUer? We have several who want to eliminate Muslims from (Western) society

[liberalhistorian]

15. I hate to even think it, but

you're completely correct about that. Some of the hate-filled anti-Muslim garbage I've read from posters here lately has me wondering what the hell has happened to this place. I've been here twelve years and would never have seen that in earlier DU's, and would never have thought I'd see it on here.

We have longtime family friends whose children I grew up with and one of them married an Iraqi refugee and they had three children. They're divorced now, but she'd converted and she remains Muslim, raising her children as Muslim (they both do). They're in Nebraska and, although they're in the most culturally and religiously diverse part of the stat (Omaha-with the state's only Hindu temple and one of the few Buddhist temples; both Lincoln and Omaha have mosques), they've been getting shit lately, including the young children and including at school. Makes me sick and ashamed.

[Judi Lynn]

19. The presence of hate-driven anti-Muslim posters is peculiar to me, too.

I chalk it up to my perception this board has become a magnet to racist right-wing trolls who frolic here with a vengeance, many of them learning to fly just below the radar.

You know something has gone wrong when they can play keep-away and screw up entire conversations on threads, or even shut down the subject altogether by making it just not worth the hassle. That's a filthy way to win on a message board designed for progressives, isn't it?

There are more than enough anti-Muslim trolls here. I believe they have taken that position because they realize many progressive people have deep feelings about the treachery of the war against Muslim people and their countries.

[jpak]

9. American Sniper

yup

[liberalhistorian]

16. Yes, that was my first thought as well

upon hearing of this tragedy. It makes me sick that that fucking movie is going to be so heavily feted at the Oscars.

[SMC22307]

32. That's what came to mind, particularly Kyle's despicable belief...

that Iraqis are "savages."

So sad for the victims and their families.

[yallerdawg]

10. Thank you, Judi Lynn.

No mention of religion (or lack of) in your OP.

As Joe Friday would say, "Just the facts, ma'am."

[hack89]

12. They were neighbors and it was over a parking dispute

Hicks is accused of shooting his Finley Forest neighbors, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.

Police said in a statement Wednesday morning that a dispute about parking in the neighborhood of rented condominiums may have led to the incident.

“Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking. Hicks is cooperating with investigators,” Lt. Joshua Mecimore, a police spokesman, said.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/10/4545775_three-people-shot-dead-in-chapel.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

[onehandle]

17. Gun culture strikes again. nt

[Blue_Tires]

18. Another "Stand your ground" advocate, fearing for his life?

[Tempest]

22. Dispute having nothing to do with their religion

Way to go going off half cocked.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Call to investigate whether US triple murder was an anti-Muslim hate crime

Call to investigate whether US triple murder was an anti-Muslim hate crime
7:51 AM Thursday Feb 12, 2015



A long-running parking dispute between neighbours motivated a man to kill a woman, her husband and her sister at a quiet condominium complex near the University of North Carolina campus, police said.

Beyond the parking dispute, police didn't comment further on the motivation or details of the crime, but a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation asked authorities to address speculation - much of it on social media - about possible anti-Muslim bias.

The three victims were Muslim, a friend said.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in yesterday's shooting of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Barakat and Mohammad were married, and Abu-Salha was Mohammad's sister.

More:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11400665

[Judi Lynn]

26. 3 slain college students strived for a better world

3 slain college students strived for a better world
By Mariem Masmoudi
Updated 5:12 PM ET, Wed February 11, 2015

3 Muslim college students shot in the head

Editor's Note: Mariem Masmoudi, a Tunisian-American, received her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a graduate student in Islamic Studies at Columbia University and works at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN)—I was on the phone with a friend in his junior year at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill, discussing his campus work and future goals, when his roommates relayed the news and he stopped, suddenly, and said: "Mariem, Deah and his wife were shot. They are dead."

A ping of utter shock struck. Then dismissal. Denial. Thinking I must have misheard, I asked, "You're kidding, right?"

Of course, I would never think that my friend or anyone else I know would make light of such a thing, but it was too heavy a loss to swallow so quickly. In the minutes and hours that followed, I learned of the full magnitude of the situation. Deah Barakat, Yusor Mohammad and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, three beacons of light and honor in our communities, had each been shot in the head in their apartment, and died.

is difficult to put into words the rush of emotions that we all felt last night, and that continue to fill our hearts and bring pain to our souls. We lost so much in a matter of minutes. These three young Muslim Americans were active in their neighborhoods and communities, worked with local and international charities and relief efforts, supported their brothers and sisters in the Triangle community in their educational and professional pursuits, promoted love, tolerance and togetherness. They laughed with us, shared in others' pains and sorrows, offered relief, and put their actions where their words so constantly were: striving for a better, more just and more caring world.

More:
http://us.cnn.com/2015/02/11/opinion/masmoudi-unc-shooting/index.html

[Judi Lynn]

29. Family of North Carolina shooting victims denounce killings as 'hate crime'

Family of North Carolina shooting victims denounce killings as 'hate crime'

Sister of victim describes it as ‘execution-style murder’ and other family claim anti-Muslim motiviations but police say it may stem from parking dispute

Lauren Gambino in New York and Nicky Woolf in Raleigh, North Carolina
Wednesday 11 February 2015 17.58 EST

The older sister of ​one of three North Carolina students killed in an attack on Tuesday has called for the authorities ​to investigate the shooting “as a hate crime”.

In an emotional press conference, Suzanne Barakat described the killing of her brother as an “execution-style murder”.
Barakat’s comments come as the father of the two ​ women killed in the same attack has said he also believes the killings were a hate crime, perpetrated against his daughters and son-in-law because they were Muslim.

Chapel Hill police said a preliminary investigation revealed that an ongoing dispute between neighbors over a parking space may have led Craig Stephen Hicks to shoot his neighbors Deah Barakat, 23; Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

However, the women’s father, Mohammad Abu-Salha, disagrees.

“This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime,” ​ Abu-Salha ​told the Raleigh News & Observer.

Abu-Salha, a psychiatrist in Clayton, said his daughter had recently told her parents that they had a “hateful neighbor”.

“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,” Abu-Salha said. “And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far.”

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/11/family-north-carolina-shooting-victims-hate-crime

[SoCalMusicLover]

30. Who Cares The Reason, It's Triple Premeditated Murder

So it's a hate crime, or not a hate crime.

At the very least, this SOB should be locked in solitary for all his remaining days.

I understand that the racial aspect is important, but regardless of whether it was their religion, or that they glanced at him the wrong way one day, he still slaughtered them, and should be held accountable with the harshest penalty possible.

And I know the death penalty is not popular here, but this guy is a worthless POS, and he has no usefulness left on this planet. Taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize his existence in this world.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Were 3 slain for their religion or their parking space?

Were 3 slain for their religion or their parking space?

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press | February 11, 2015 | Updated: February 11, 2015 7:36pm

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Police are trying to determine whether hate played any role in the killing of three Muslims, a crime they said was sparked by a neighbor's long-simmering anger over parking and noise inside their condominium complex.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, describes himself as a "gun toting" atheist. Neighbors say he always seemed angry and confrontational. His ex-wife said he was obsessed with the shooting-rampage movie "Falling Down," and showed "no compassion at all" for other people.

His current wife, Karen Hicks, said he "champions the rights of others" and said the killings "had nothing do with religion or the victims' faith." Later Wednesday, she issued another statement, saying she's divorcing him.

~ snip ~

"The media here bombards the American citizen with Islamic, Islamic, Islamic terrorism and makes people here scared of us and hate us and want us out. So if somebody has any conflict with you, and they already hate you, you get a bullet in the head," said Abu-Salha, who is a psychiatrist.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Man-arrested-after-3-shot-to-death-in-North-6074536.php