Last night three students were killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -Chapel Hill Police have released the names of three people who were shot and killed on Tuesday evening in the Finley Forest Condominium on Summerwalk Circle, near the Friday Center off Highway 54. Police also said the shooter was in custody.
Those victims 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 Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, of Chapel Hill has been charged with three counts of first degree murder. He’s being held in the Durham County Jail.
There is some evidence that the killings may have been motivated by a hostility towards Muslims, and towards religion in general. It’s rare for hatred of religion – or of Islam in particular – to manifest itself in such a shockingly violent way, and, as Richard Dawkins says:
How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three young US Muslims in Chapel Hill
Gene adds: A tweet from one of the victims:
From one of the young Muslim victims of the #ChapelHillShooting just a couple weeks ago pic.twitter.com/G289RpDsgE
— Kinza Khan (@KinzaK89) February 11, 2015
