A horrific triple homicide was committed yesterday in Chapel Hill, NC, as three Muslim students were apparently murdered by a deranged anti-religion progressive.

The News & Observer reports:

Police charged a Chapel Hill man Wednesday with first-degree murder in the deaths of three Muslim students in a quiet neighborhood near Meadowmont just south of N.C. 54.Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, is being held in the Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder. 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. Barakat was a doctoral student in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Dentistry. The sisters were N.C. State University students. Chapel Hill police found all three victims dead at the scene, after responding to a report of gunshots on Summerwalk Circle at 5:11 p.m. Tuesday. The neighborhood, adjacent to the Friday Center, is mostly rental apartments and modest condominiums. It rarely appears in reports of crime in Chapel Hill. Police worked early into the morning trying to piece together what happened. Police have not offered a motive for the shootings.

[UPDATE: Chapel Hill police are now saying the shooting may be related to a parking dispute with no connection to the victims’ religion. Thanks to tarheelkate in the comments.]

BREAKING: #ChapelHillShooting deaths of 3 Muslim students might have been linked to parking dispute, police say. http://t.co/TPJuBdDQt5 — CNN International (@cnni) February 11, 2015

Chapel Hill PD preliminary investigation: "the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking." http://t.co/tI2r71lVrD — Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) February 11, 2015

[UPDATE2: Jake Tapper with the Chapel Hill PD press statement:]

Chapel Hill Police Department press release pic.twitter.com/2ZQZWkFwcJ — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 11, 2015

[UPDATE3: And now the US Attorney completely deflates the anti-Muslim narrative:]

UPDATE #ChapelHillShooting: US Attorney says not targeted anti-Muslim organized campaign, just "isolated incident". pic.twitter.com/J8ZlgBdkk9 — Nora Abdulkarim نورة الدعيجي (@Ana3rabeya) February 11, 2015

Barakat and Abu-Salha were just married a few weeks ago. She had recently graduated from NC State, and he was a UNC dental student.

A review of the Facebook page of the man charged in these murders, Craig Hicks, shows a consistent theme of anti-religion and progressive causes. Included in his many Facebook “likes” are the Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” Neil deGrasse Tyson, gay marriage groups, and a host of anti-conservative/Tea Party pages.

Remarkably, one of the four Facebook groups he had joined was “Religious Tolerance.”

Just a few weeks ago he had posted this to his Facebook page:

Police no doubt will be releasing further details of this case in the coming days.

BTW, Richard Dawkins is getting pretty mouthy:

A parking dispute in NRA-land. 3 young people tragically murdered in Chapel Hill. A PARKING dispute in gun-land. http://t.co/OL1ax8HHPI — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) February 11, 2015

Seeing as Hicks was a Dawkins fanboi. From his Facebook page:

UPDATE: Never let the facts get in the way of a good narrative (HT: RBPundit)

Three American Muslim students shot dead near University of North Carolina by Christian terrorist https://t.co/u4ntSt8p56 #MuslimLivesMatter — Michael Lee (@MichaelLee2009) February 11, 2015

Stuck on stupid (HT: Jim Treacher):

@sdsorrentino It's my understanding that he was baptized as a Christian. Stop making excuses #ChapelHillShooting — Michael Lee (@MichaelLee2009) February 11, 2015

A variation on the theme:

@WayneBogda This is the Amarican Christian Terrorist who murder 3 innocent Muslim college students in NC pic.twitter.com/mYMUyTrgs6 — Aurora 🇸🇦 🇦🇪 (@Antiterrorism1) February 11, 2015

UPDATE2: Dean Obeidallah, who was part of the group of American Muslims who met with Obama last week, predictably blames the GOP:

I dont blame atheism for murder of 3 Muslim Amer students. My focus is the GOP officials+professional anti-Muslim bigots #MuslimLivesMatter — (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) February 11, 2015

And then doubles-down:

.@mjbenchmark @EWErickson so please send me links to where they demonized Muslims. I'll send u ones where many in GOP have. Thanks — (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) February 11, 2015

@JohnDalyBooks @Deanofcomedy Which is to say #Muslimlivesmatter but not as much as my completely separate agenda. — David Freddoso (@freddoso) February 11, 2015

In the Washington Post’s coverage, they bury Hicks’ leanings at the very end of their story:

Last night on Twitter, most of the #ChapelHillShooting posts were condemnations of US media (esp. Fox News) for not only not covering this, but supposed anti-Muslim reporting inspired it. Now…

And now the media reports the lack of media reports on the #ChapelHillShooting. — Sir Castic (@TzviZucker) February 11, 2015

Why isn’t this ALL OVER the news?!! https://t.co/DO7kKPdwfl IF Muslim had shot three white students, would dominate today’s media coverage — Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) February 11, 2015

That lack of media coverage of #ChapelHillShooting in full pic.twitter.com/NJZJwTXBdS — David Wilcock (@DavidTWilcock) February 11, 2015

https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/565516963141918720

https://twitter.com/DefendWallSt/status/565567077923426304

Has Southern Poverty Law Center made a statement yet?

https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/565539008466669569

This, of course, is helpful:

Do you wanna radicalize the youth? Keep executing muslims. #ChapelHillShooting — Ahmed (@AlshehmaniA) February 11, 2015

A wave of kafirphobia sweeping the Muslim community: