Three Muslim Students Killed In Chapel Hill (Updated With President Obama’s Response)
[guest post by Dana]
A horrible tragedy today in North Carolina:
Police have arrested a gunman in the killing of three Muslim students — including a husband and wife — in the university town of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, US news reports said Wednesday.
The shooter, identified as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was being held in Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder, the Chapel Hill News and Observer newspaper and other news outlets said.
The victims were identified as Chapel Hill residents Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.
While the investigation is just underway, reaction from the Muslim community was strong and swift:
The Twitter hashtags #MuslimLivesMatter, #ChapelHillShotting and #OurThreeWinners gained near instant popularity. Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, posted “My thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those senselessly murdered in Chapel Hill last night #MuslimLivesMatter” on his Twitter account.
A relative of the victims, Haya Barakat, took her grief to Twitter as well, posting @HayaBarakat: “My cousin, his wife and sister in law were murdered for being muslim. Someone tell me racism/hate crimes don’t exist. #MuslimLivesMatter”
Other community leaders called for calm, hoping to avert panic and fear among American Muslims.
Within hours of hearing of the news, candlelight vigils have been organized by Muslim organizations across North America, including in Fullerton, California; New Brunswick, New Jersey; Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Los Angeles; Tempe, Arizona; Chicago, and Atlanta.
Media outlets have been put under the spotlight for their response. In an opinion peace posted on Al Jazeera, Dr. Mohamad Elmasry, an assistant professor at the University of North Alabama, wrote “Western media outlets will likely frame the most recent perpetrator of what some speculate is an anti-Muslim crime in the same way they frame most anti-Muslim criminals – as crazed, misguided bigots who acted alone. If past coverage is any indication, there will likely be very little suggestion that the killer acted on the basis of an ideology or as part of any larger pattern or system.
“But what if acts of anti-Muslim violence are consistent with at least some strands of current western ideology? What if Islamophobia has become so commonplace, so accepted, that it now represents a hegemonic system of thought, at least for relatively large pockets of people in some regions of the West?”
And in spite of the efforts by some in the media to shamefully sensationalize the tragedy and make the killings about race, neighbors of Hicks claim he was hateful to everyone, no matter their race or religion:
”He was very disgruntled, very aggressive. He would scream at people,’’ said Samantha Maness, 25, a technical college student who lives across a parking lot from the apartments of Hicks and two of the three slain students in a housing complex of winding streets and towering loblolly pines a few miles from the University of North Carolina campus.
“He made everyone feel uncomfortable and unsafe,’’ Maness said Wednesday, speaking outside Hicks’ upstairs apartment, which backs up to an adjoining apartment where two of the shooting victims lived. Flowers had been left on the lawn in front of the building.
Residents of Finley Forest apartments in Chapel Hill had been so alarmed by Hicks’ rants that they called a community meeting last year, Maness said. Residents shared stories about being confronted by Hicks, but no one mentioned the meeting to Hicks and nothing came of it, she said.
Maness said she never heard Hicks refer to anyone’s religion or race.
“He had equal opportunity anger toward all the residents,” she said.
God rest the souls of the three young victims and comfort their families.
–Dana
UPDATE: President Obama’s statement on the tragedy:
Yesterday, the FBI opened an inquiry into the brutal and outrageous murders of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, Deah Shaddy Barakat, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In addition to the ongoing investigation by local authorities, the FBI is taking steps to determine whether federal laws were violated. No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship. Michelle and I offer our condolences to the victims’ loved ones. As we saw with the overwhelming presence at the funeral of these young Americans, we are all one American family. Whenever anyone is taken from us before their time, we remember how they lived their lives – and the words of one of the victims should inspire the way we live ours.
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/11/2015 @ 6:45 pm“He made everyone feel uncomfortable and unsafe,’’
Wow.. not a “He was such a nice, quiet guy… never saw this coming,” for once, eh?
Miguelitosd (d13001) — 2/11/2015 @ 6:55 pmA terrible act committed by a far-left, religion-hating progressive.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:01 pmThe LAT article further states:
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:06 pmAnd according to his Facebook page, his likes were:
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:11 pmActually I thought the news media was very good this morning about jumping out and saying that this was not a hate crime in regards to race , creed or color.
Yet somehow i think if he had been associated in any way shape or manner with NRA or a Tea Party that would have been made well known at the same time. That he was an Atheist Leftist did not get disclosed so readily.
seeRpea (181740) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:11 pm“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.” ”
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/11/progressive-atheist-kills-3-muslim-students-media-ignores/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:26 pmSo…even if this was a purposeful attack on Muslims, which I would condemn and disagree with,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:30 pmhow many would that be now here in the US
compared to the number of people killed by Muslims for not being Muslims here in the US?
Including all of those that have been “buried”, like the two Coptic Christians who were beheaded in NJ awhile ago.
seeRpea,
That’s why Vox’s tweet linked in the post is so telling – they are already pushing their narrative, and it’s disgusting.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:30 pmOnly whites can perform “hate” crimes. Muslims only perform random acts of violence.
Jim (84e66d) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:34 pmIt is in times like these we need to exercise strategic patience, rather than rushing to judgement over the actions of yet another deranged progressive.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:42 pmA case of simple parking lot violence? Think how often people have vehement disagreements over parking spots at malls all over America during Christmas season.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:59 pmatheism: the only religion as intolerant of other religions as Islime.
redc1c4 (cf3b04) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:32 pmIt’s just terrible. Those three young people were just glowing with life. Another horrible killer who was ignored until it was too late.
I have to hand it to the LA Times, who did not put the Muslim angle in the headline at all. And I think it’s the height of cruelty for all the usual suspects like CAIR to make this into a hate crime and cite the usual fear of backlash crap. Even if it was anti-Muslim, it’s the only one of these crimes in 14 years, so chill, activists.
Patricia (5fc097) — 2/11/2015 @ 11:06 pmhttp://twitchy.com/2015/02/11/van-jones-abets-claim-that-tea-party-folks-support-chapel-hill-murderer/
isn’t this a blood libel? What are the chances of a class action bankrupting Van Jones? Even bringing the suit alone, without any other result, would be a good day, a red letter day, in American justice. That’s my opinion.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/11/2015 @ 11:19 pmPapertiger. Val Jarrett loves Van Jones. Van Jones is a COMMUNIST CLOWN and he is BLACK.
Consider the source. A WAR IS COMING.
Gus (7cc192) — 2/11/2015 @ 11:27 pmMeg Whitman loves her some Van Jones too
up one side
down the other
cherry on top
happyfeet (831175) — 2/12/2015 @ 2:43 amISIL is going to have to get their teeth cleaned by some other anti-American bigots.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/12/2015 @ 11:29 amreaction from the Muslim community was strong and swift
Swift, strong, and wrong?
acts of anti-Muslim violence are consistent with at least some strands of current western ideology
Atheist states (that is, the USSR) had both slavery and mass murder. That a hard Leftist (SPLC, Tyson, Huffpo, Maddow) would murder inconvenient Mohammedans is an expression of his politics and morality.
ErisGuy (76f8a7) — 2/13/2015 @ 1:55 ammy thoughts are with the families. what an awful thing.
carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/13/2015 @ 11:33 amThe president responds in update to post:
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/13/2015 @ 12:29 pmNo one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are unless they belong to Tea Party groups in the run-up to a pivotal election.
happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/13/2015 @ 12:35 pmNo one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship.
But it’s totally cool to target them for what they believe and with whom they choose to affiliate politically, right Dear Leader?
JVW (27e4a7) — 2/13/2015 @ 12:37 pmWhen you think about it, of course people should be targeted for “who they are.” Would you extend Obama’s platitude to pedophiles, and avoid targeting them for who they are? Of course not. Would you extend it to drunks and junkies? Would you extend it to a pathological liar (hello, President Clinton!) or to a sociopath? It would be nice if we could drop the Mister Rogers banalities and have a more robust defense of liberty: “No one should be targeted for exercising their Constitutional rights, whether in speech, association, religion, bearing arms, or opposing unreasonable search & seizure & illegal warrants, or any other of the protections we are guaranteed.” But that is way too much freedom for a committed leftist like Obama to be willing to extend.
JVW (27e4a7) — 2/13/2015 @ 12:46 pmJVW,
You’re right, I think, but “freedom” has become a dirty word to too many.
With that, isn’t it interesting which national tragedies the president chooses to offer a public statement about? Not every tragedy makes the cut…
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/13/2015 @ 1:02 pmThey shuld be asked: Are you really going to decide how severely to charge this murderer, based on the nature of the hatred that he had for these individuals?
Is a jury going to be asked to decide just what kind of hatred it was – was it all personal, or did it have an element of religious prejudice or hatred?
This is not the traditional hate crime, where somebody looks for someone or several people who fall into acategory and he didn’t them yesterday or the day before. The killing of the two policemen in New York, by the way, would be that kind of a hate crime.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/13/2015 @ 1:22 pmThis is why I despise the whole “hate crimes” category.
If it works out they really were killed over a parking spot, this guy Hicks should get less time? How about if he just killed them for their Atlanta Falcons jackets? Not as much of a crime if he killed them over a hijab, apparently.
This is nuts. Call me insane, but I think somebody should get just as much time if they kill somebody because they couldn’t have cared less about the other persons’ life as when they passionately hated them.
Steve57 (2430ba) — 2/13/2015 @ 5:42 pmI blame radical islam. Now they will know it feels to be slaughtered just because you have a different belief system. We must all say no to hate.
The Emperor (c941bd) — 2/13/2015 @ 5:47 pmAre you effing kidding me?
Steve57 (2430ba) — 2/13/2015 @ 5:50 pmEmperor, some of us said no to hate a long time ago. We still say yes to killing people who, if left alive, would burn people alive in cages.
What does that have to do with hate?
Steve57 (2430ba) — 2/13/2015 @ 5:55 pmwhere is Neal Tyson or Morris Dee’s apology, I know that’s a rhetorical question?
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/13/2015 @ 5:59 pmI don’t actually hate these f***tards. It’s just that in the cold, light-of-day, I’ve calculated that for the sake of civilization they can’t be left alive.
Steve57 (2430ba) — 2/13/2015 @ 6:03 pmAt Steve57. I am inclined to not disagree with you there. The truth is that true Islam is radical and the so called “moderates” are the traitors. Soon every Muslim grows to become true hate-filled fundamentalists. This is the stark reality. Islam is a disease…
The Emperor (788f00) — 2/13/2015 @ 6:08 pmthere was a link in the other thread, about Kassabeih’s torcher, a moslem convert from Portugal, who had lived in Londonistan for a time:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/02/chapelhillshooting-update-suspect-displayed-equal-opportunity-anger/
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/13/2015 @ 6:09 pmMy fear is that the government of the day refuses to wake up to this threat. All they do is to jump on every opportunity to remind us that “this is not Islam. Islam is a religion of peace”. Bullshit. The scariest part is that now kids are being taught about Islam in public schools in America and made to say “Allah is the only true god “! In schools in America! The enemy is not out there folks, they are here now.
The Emperor (788f00) — 2/13/2015 @ 6:20 pmMy fear is that the government of the day refuses to wake up to this threat. All they do is to jump on every opportunity to remind us that “this is not Islam. Islam is a religion of peace”. Bullshit. The scariest part is that now kids are being taught about Islam in public schools in America and made to say “Allah is the only true god “! In schools in America! The enemy is not out there folks, they are here now…
The Emperor (788f00) — 2/13/2015 @ 6:59 pmEmperor @32, if you are talking about Islam in particular I am forced to agree. I have provided countless links to the Quran, the Sunnah (the teachings of Muhammad and the biographical literature), the major Sunni schools and the twelver shie school of Sharia, and the tafsir (learned commentaries on the Quran). It does no good. People would rather believe Islam is what they see in their soccer playing neighbors.
Thank God for the soccer playing neighbors. They are good people, but they are not good Muslims. We need more of them in this world. The problem is when the fundamentalists reach critical mass the good people who are Muslims can’t offer any sort of intellectual resistance. Because the evidence is all on the other side.
The good people who are not good Muslims are the first to be crucified when a group like ISIS takes an area over. As an example to others. Their problem, poor people, is that there is no other interpretation of Islam other than what the “radicals” espouse. I’ve heard it all, including “Quran only” Muslims. There is no such thing. It is heresy. 90% of Muslims are Sunnis. In Arabic they call themselves “Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’h.” The adherents of the Sunnah and the congregation. There is nothing Quranic about it if you’re going to be particular; you’re barking up the wrong tree.
Sunni Muslims follow the Sunnah. Hence the name. Could it be simpler?
I would like to think this country would be a refuge for them, but instead we’re in bed with groups like CAIR. Because, conformity.
If the subject is hate in general, like being sure that gets expensive.
Steve57 (2430ba) — 2/13/2015 @ 7:09 pmYou are absolutely right, Steve. We need to stop treating symptoms and get to the root. It is time the unislamic Muslims a.k.a. the bad Muslims who don’t kill take a stand for the truth or be wiped out by the jihadists. People who would bath people in gasoline and set them on fire like the video you attached.
The Emperor (788f00) — 2/13/2015 @ 7:20 pm@Patterico, my last comment is still in moderation. Any new rules I might not be aware of?