By Jonathan Walsh

Rabat – Police in Fort Wayne, Indiana are investigating the shooting of three young Muslim Men this week, in what has been described as an ‘execution-style’ killing.

Muhannad Tairab, 17, Adam Mekki, 20, and Mohamedtaha Omar, 23 of Sudanese and Chadian descent were discovered at the abandoned ‘party house’ on Wednesday evening, by police following a tip-off.

Autopsy reports suggest the men were each shot multiple times. While no motive has been given for the killings, police have warned against assumptions that the men were targeted because of their backgrounds.

“Hopefully, you know, we’ll be able to focus on exactly what the reason was, but as I said before, no reason to believe this was any type of hate crime, or focused because of their religion or their nationality whatsoever,’ said Safety Director Rusty York in an interview with ABC 21 Alive.

Residents of the largely peaceful neighbourhood hope that the deaths, which represent the areas’ first triple homicide in over a decade, are unrelated to their Islamic faith.

If it were the case, the incident would be the most prominent case of anti-Islamic hate crime America has seen since the Chapel Hill killings of 2015, in which three Muslims were murdered by gun men because of their religion.

York did confirm that the house the men were discovered at was not their place of residence, but rather a well known location to police “where young people would go. There was no adult supervision. To hang out, to drink, maybe smoke marijuana, it was one of those type homes. “

The men were not thought to be involved with local gangs according to police, but at this stage it has not been ruled out as a possible motive.