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Chapel Hill shooting: Grand jury indicts North Carolina man in killings of Muslims

The FBI has said it is opening its own preliminary inquiry

Reuters February 16, 2015

A makeshift memorial is made during a vigil at the University of North Carolina following the murders of three Muslim students on February 11, 2015 in Chapel Hill. PHOTO: AFP

NORTH CAROLINA: A grand jury indicted a North Carolina man on Monday for the shooting deaths of a newlywed Muslim couple and the wife's sister last week, a court official said.

Craig Hicks, 46, of Chapel Hill, was charged by a grand jury with three counts of first-degree murder and one of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, said Angela Kelly, an assistant clerk of the Durham County Superior Court.

Deah Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student; his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were gunned down last Tuesday in a condominium about 2 miles (3 km) from the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill.

Investigators have said initial findings indicate a dispute over parking prompted the shooting, but they are looking into whether Hicks was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.

The case has garnered international attention and has raised concerns among some Muslim advocates in the United States who say they have seen an increase in threats in recent weeks.

A paralegal student at Durham Technical Community College since 2012, Hicks has portrayed himself on Facebook as an atheist and filled his social media page with anti-religion posts. The FBI has said it is opening its own preliminary inquiry. It has not specified if the inquiry would include whether the shooting was a hate crime.

COMMENTS (11)

Asok | 9 years ago | Reply @Bewildered "Hatred for them" is not the same as "hatred for Muslims in general". The latter is what qualifies as a hate crime. If I kill my friend because he cheated me and so now I hate him, that is not a "hate crime".

Bewildered | 9 years ago | Reply @John B: "This shooting, as it appears, is not a hate crime." You just don't kill three people over a petty dispute unless you are filled with extreme hatred for them. Would you? Hicks didn't kill only Barakat with whom he might have had the dispute, he also killed his wife and her sister who have nothing to do with the dispute. What else could be the motive behind killing these two totally innocent ladies, if not hatred for them?

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John B | 9 years ago | Reply @WB: All humans commit hate crimes. The vandalism of Hindu temple in Washington is a hate crime, and arson on Mosque in Texas is a hate crime, and burning of church in Peshawar, and vandalism of church is Delhi , demolition of Ayodya mosque and demolition of temples in India, beheading of Coptic Christians, killing of Shia or Ahmedi or Bahai by Sunni are all hate crimes. This shooting, as it appears, is not a hate crime. Get your facts straight so that we can prevent hate crime from happening in the future. In the world we live in, we cannot prevent all hate crimes but we must know what is a hate crime and what is a typical crime, if we are to make a distinction in punishment.

woody | 9 years ago | Reply @Pakistani:

@woody: Really? On what basis do you doubt that he would not have been vocal. The terrorist act in France was a hate crime. Killing of Jews as well as Muslims is a hate crime. . You apparently don't understand that "hate crime" is defined by Statute in the USA. Many states have their own hate crime statues as does the Federal govt. Hate crime statutes are sentence enhancements to existing crimes where the motive behind the crime is based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation .. for example if a Sunni beat up a Shia he could be convicted and sentenced under normal assault provision in the law - if religion was a factor they would likely increase the jail sentence. . To date there is no indication that religion or race was a factor in this crime and the motive appears to be a dispute over a parking spot in the apartment complex. That means that this isn't a "hate crime".

paki | 9 years ago | Reply @Asok: No need to jump to conclusions... FBI is investigating whether this was hate crime.

Asok | 9 years ago | Reply The accused had facebook posts where he ranted against religion in general, but not against Islam specifically. The indictment has no hate crime charges because there's no evidence for it. The killing of three promising young students is a horrific crime in itself, especially when it's over something as trivial as parking. There is no need to spins thread of Muslim oppression out of it with no evidence.

WB | 9 years ago | Reply @John B: Right. White people don't commit hate crimes!

John B | 9 years ago | Reply The grand jury (local civilians) looks into preliminary evidence presented in the court and decide whether there is a crime committed as charged by the prosecutor (confession alone is never an evidence) and decides whether such charge is correct. In this case they decided that it is a first degree murder on three counts and additional fire arm charge. From here on, the prosecution and jury selection occur. It is also likely that there will be a plea bargain for life imprisonment and there may not be any trial. Trial by jury will be contentious, since the jury pool is tainted. It all depends on how good his lawyer is and how aggressive the prosecutions is. For hate crime, there is no evidence so far since he had not gone on killing other Muslims or other religious fellows. He is charged under state and local laws. The federal government probe (FBI) can decide whether there is a hate crime,or not and may charge him in federal court. Since this case is politicized from the get go, and also there is a grand jury indictment on state laws, conviction on hate crime in federal court is difficult with the same evidence and burden of proving hatred as a motive is even harder, given that there is an alternate logical motive. Hate crime is what happened in Copenhagen and in Paris. Hope people come out of the religious cloak and look at the individual case objectively. And also note, in the US the government does not drag the feet, unlike the Karachi arson.

Pakistani | 9 years ago | Reply @woody: Really? On what basis do you doubt that he would not have been vocal. The terrorist act in France was a hate crime. Killing of Jews as well as Muslims is a hate crime. No need to comment just for the sake of it.

woody | 9 years ago | Reply @Saleem:

One need not be a rocket scientist to figure out that it was a hate crime!

Really. If an atheist kills Muslims it's a hate crime - but I doubt you would be so vocal had he killed 3 Christians, Jews, Hindus etc. So far there isn't a shred of evidence to indicate that this atheist harbored any particular malice towards Muslims - and since he's already confessed to a crime which carries the death penalty I doubt he's going to lie about the motive.

Saleem | 9 years ago | Reply

Investigators have said initial findings indicate a dispute over parking prompted the shooting, but they are looking into whether Hicks was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.

One need not be a rocket scientist to figure out that it was a hate crime!

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