Three Palestinian Students Injured in Vermont Shooting Incident

Three Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont on Saturday evening, as reported by the police.

According to a Sunday police news release, the 20-year-old men are currently receiving medical care. "Two are in stable condition, while one has sustained much more serious injuries."

While visiting a relative in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday, the students were walking on Prospect Street when, according to the release, they were approached by a white man with a handgun. Police stated that the man fired at least four rounds from the pistol without speaking and then fled on foot.

Police confirmed that out of the three victims, two are US citizens and one has legal residency status.

According to the police department, two of the students were seen wearing keffiyehs, which are traditional Palestinian scarves. Additionally, two of the victims sustained gunshot wounds to the torso, while the third was shot in the "lower extremities."

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Muslim and Arab Americans feel increasingly cautious due to the rise in hate crimes. Authorities have stated that there is no further information regarding the suspect's motives. Detectives have recovered ballistic evidence from the shooting, which will be submitted to a federal database, as per Burlington police.

The FBI announced on Sunday that it was ready to investigate the incident. According to Police Chief Jon Murad, officers responded to a call and discovered two shooting victims near the University of Vermont campus, with the third victim found nearby.

Victims were taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center, according to the news release. The shooter or shooters have not been identified or apprehended, Murad stated, and the police department is in the early stages of investigating the crime.

Three students, Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdelhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed, were identified as graduates of the Ramallah Friends School, a Quaker-operated private nonprofit school in the occupied West Bank, according to the school's Facebook post.

Ramallah Friends School stated that all three individuals are students at American colleges. Haverford College in Pennsylvania released a statement confirming that Abdelhamid, a junior at the college, is currently recovering from gunshot wounds at a hospital.

Senator Bernie Sanders expressed his shock and deep upset over the shootings in a post on X, stating that "Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation."

Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6.

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Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, took to X to address the incident, specifically naming the students involved as "three young Palestinian men." "The ongoing hate crimes against Palestinians must come to an end. Palestinians worldwide require protection," expressed Zomlot in his post on X.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee stated in a news release that they suspect the shooting occurred due to the victims' Arab heritage. Concurrently, the Council on American-Islamic Relations declared a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to the capture and conviction of the shooter or shooters.

The shooting occurred during a period of increased tension and hate crimes in the United States following a deadly attack by Hamas in Israel and Israel's extensive airstrikes in Gaza. In another incident in October, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed by his family's landlord in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime. CNN has contacted the University of Vermont, the University of Vermont Medical Center, the students' universities, and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.