Chapel Hill 'rocked' by killings of 3 Muslim students

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Chapel Hill community 'upset' by shooting that killed 3 Neighbors and students react to the Chapel Hill shooting that killed three Muslim students.

The mayor of Chapel Hill, N.C., said Wednesday that the college town has been "rocked" by the shooting deaths of three Muslim students that the father of two of the victims calls a "hate crime."

The fatal shootings have sparked condemnation from a national Muslim civil liberties group and triggered a Twitter uproar over allegations of anti-Muslim bias.

The victims, all shot in the head, were identified about 2 a.m. Wednesday as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, police said.

All were U.S.-born and grew up in the area.

Barakat, a Syrian-American and a second-year dental student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Yusor Mohammad were married in late December.

The couple traveled to Turkey last year to provide free dental care to students, according to a Facebook page created in their memory by friends.

Muneeb Mustafa, 23, of Cary, said he attended the same Raleigh mosque as Barakat.

"He was a completely genuine guy. Loving, caring, friendly, smart," Mustafa said. "He was an ideal human being. He was a role model."

911 call: Chapel Hill shooting witness heard screaming Chapel Hill police release a 911 call from a witness who heard gunshots and screaming following the deaths of three Muslim students. Craig Stephen Hicks turned himself in to officials and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Abu-Salha was a sophomore studying architecture at North Carolina State University, and her sister was to begin classes there in the fall.

On the UNC campus Wednesday night, several thousand people attended a candlelight vigil for the slain students. At nearby Raleigh, a moment of silence was planned during the night's N.C. State-University of Virginia basketball game, said Chancellor Randy Woodson. A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

"Senseless acts like this go against all of our beliefs," he said, adding that one of the school's core values is "respect for diversity in all its forms."

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself in to authorities, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday at a condominium complex in Chapel Hill. A neighbor called 911 reporting five to 10 shots and the sound of people screaming.

Police spokesman Lt. Joshua Mecimore said a preliminary investigation indicates the crime was "motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking" and that Hicks, who lives in the complex, is cooperating with investigators, according to newsobserver.com.

Hicks has been a full-time paralegal student at Durham Technical Community College. His profile on Facebook reads "Atheists for Equality" and he frequently posted quotes critical of religion.

He was also a Second Amendment advocate. Three weeks ago, he posted a photo of a .38-caliber revolver that he said was loaded and belonged to him. He is licensed to carry a concealed firearm.

"Yes, that is 1 pound 5.1 ounces for my loaded 38 revolver, its holster, and five extra rounds in a speedloader," the entry said.

Neighbor Samantha Maness said suspect Hicks "complained about noise and parking. So I wasn't extremely surprised" when he was charged.

"Anytime that I saw him or saw interaction with him or friends or anyone in the parking lot or myself, he was angry," she said. "He was very angry, anytime I saw him."

Hicks, wearing a jail jumpsuit, made a brief appearance Wednesday morning in Durham County District Court, where he asked for a public defender. He was denied bail and informed that the next hearing would be held March 4, newsobserver.com reports.

Wednesday afternoon, Hicks was transferred to Central Prison in Raleigh for his safety, authorities said, without indicating whether there had been threats against his life.

Local politicians and police moved quickly to try to reassure the public after some family members charged that anti-Muslim feelings were behind the killing and Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council of American Islamic Relations, called on authorities to determine as quickly as possible whether religion was a factor in the killings.

"Our community has been rocked by a horrible crime with the shootings of three young people," said Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, calling the killings a "senseless and tragic act surrounding a long-standing dispute," he said.

"I share strong feelings of outrage and shock with my fellow citizens and university students — as well as concerned people everywhere," he added. "We do not know whether anti-Muslim bias played a role in this crime, but I do recognize the fear that members of our community may feel. Chapel Hill is a place for everyone, a place where Muslim lives matter."

Durham District Attorney Roger Echols said he couldn't discuss a motive. Asked whether Hicks could be charged with a hate crime, he said the facts of the case were still under investigation.

U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand said his office was monitoring the investigation but that it was not yet a federal investigation. He said the shooting appeared to be "an isolated incident."

Mohammad Abu-Salha, whose two daughters were among the victims, said Yusor and her husband had had disagreements before with Hicks and that he believes the alleged gunman's underlying animosity toward the couple was based on their religion and culture. He said his daughters "dressed in Muslim attire."

"This has all the signs. It was execution style, a bullet in every head," Abu-Salha told the Raleigh News-Observer. "This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far."

Abu-Salha, who has a psychiatry practice in Clayton, N.C., also said his daughter Yusor, in a reference to Hicks, told her family a week ago that she had "a hateful neighbor."

The killings triggered an outcry overnight on Twitter — under the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter — by those who feel the victims were marked by their religion.

Abdullah Antepli, director of Muslim affairs at nearby Duke University, issued a statement calling for people not to jump to conclusions over the motive for the killings.

Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue, in a statement, called the killings a "senseless and tragic act" and said police are still probing what happened.

"We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated, and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case," he added.

Hicks' wife, Karen Diane Haggerty, told reporters that she was "simply shocked" by the killings and expressed "deepest sympathy to all the victims."

"This incident had nothing to do with religion or the victims' faith but was related to a longstanding parking dispute that my husband had with the neighbors," she told reporters in front of her home.

She described Hicks as a champion of individual rights in many areas, including race and same-sex marriage, and thinks that "everyone is equal."

Later Wednesday, she issued another statement, saying she's divorcing her husband.

Her attorney, Robert Maitland, said there had been a dispute with the homeowners' association over parking. Neighbors explained that each unit has one reserved space but that parking can be confusing.

"It is a simple matter that has nothing to do with the religious faith of the victims," Maitland said. "It is a mundane issue of this man being frustrated day in and day out, and unfortunately, these victims were there at the wrong time at the wrong place."

Contributing: Associated Press