Brown University student among 3 Palestinian students shot in Vermont

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Three Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont on Saturday, one of whom is a junior at Brown University.

According to a press release from the Institute for Middle East Understanding, 20-year-old Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University was among those who were shot.

Authorities in Burlington said the shooting happened while the three students were walking to visit a family member for the holidays.

Officials said the three students were approached by a white man with a handgun who said nothing, but shot at them four times, leaving all three seriously injured.

Two of the students were shot in the torso and the third was shot in their lower extremities, Burlington police said. Two of the victims were also wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves.

Police said no suspected shooter has been identified or arrested and that there is “no additional information to suggest the suspect’s motive.”

According to CNN, the victims’ families urged law enforcement to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

The statement, released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding, identified the students as Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut.