'Hateful act': What police and families said after charges pressed in Burlington shooting

The man charged with the shooting of three men of Palestinian descent Saturday in Burlington pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder Monday morning.

Jason J. Eaton, 48, of Burlington, is charged in connection with a shooting on North Prospect Street that sent the three men to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

The men, Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmad, were visiting Burlington for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. The three 20-year-olds remain in the ICU at the University of Vermont Medical Center as they receive medical care.

Eaton appeared via video conference in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington.

What we knew Tuesday morning:Arrest made in shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent in Burlington

As of Monday morning, Eaton had not been charged with a hate crime, which is an enhancement of the state murder charge or a federal crime. His attorneys wished the victims a swift recovery.

In a statement released late Sunday night Nikolas P. Kerest, United States Attorney for the District of Vermont, said the United States Attorney’s Office and the Civil Rights Division will assess the evidence generated to determine whether a federal crime may have been committed.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked with the Burlington police on the investigation.

Burlington investigation

The shooting has rocked Burlington and put a spotlight on a community that otherwise is a long way from the conflict in the Middle East. And, while no direct motive has been established to charge Eaton with a hate crime, the young men's national origin continues to be at the forefront of conversations.

"The Saturday evening shooting of three young, Palestinian college students visiting Burlington on their holiday break is one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history," Mayor Miro Weinberger said at a news conference at City Hall on Monday. "This horrific unprovoked attack was a tragic violation of the values and character of this welcoming and inclusive community."

Police said two of the victims are US citizens and one is a legal resident.

Weinberger arrived at the news conference having just gotten off the phone with President Joe Biden, during which Weinberger said he thanked the president for the critical role federal partners played in making the arrest and the care the president expressed for the community.

'I've been waiting for you'

Police Chief Jon Murad was confident the evidence linked Eaton to the crime.

"Cops often say it’s better to be lucky than good and really even better to be both. I believe that’s what we have here,” he said.

Murad said that ATF officers were canvassing the neighborhood for the second time − a day after the shooting on Sunday − when they knocked on Eaton's door, which he answered. Police say Eaton responded with: "I've been waiting for you," holding his palms up, admitted to having a gun in the residence, and asked to have a lawyer present.

Eaton matched the description the victims had provided and he was taken into custody around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Later, a search warrant allowed officers to return and collect electronic equipment and a .38 caliber gun and ammunition. FBI ballistics testing linked the four shell casings from the crime scene to the gun Eaton had in his residence, according to Murad.

By midnight on Sunday Eaton was arrested.

Who are the victims

In statements from the victims' families, released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding, and the Ramallah Friends School. Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island; Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania; and Aliahmad is a student at Trinity College in Connecticut.

Awartani was struck in the spine, Aliahmad in the chest and Abdalhamid in the glute. While the latter two young men were expected to make a full recovery, Awartani's uncle, Rich Price, said his nephew suffered a spinal injury and had a long recovery ahead of him.

Price is a Burlington resident who was hosting the three college students this Thanksgiving as he had done the past couple of years. He spoke on behalf of the three families who could not be in Burlington.

"I’ve been with them almost constantly since Saturday evening," Price said of the men who were all in the ICU of University of Vermont Medical Center. "I’ve been listening to them talk to one another and try to process the events and I’m blown away by their resilience, by their good humor in the face of these difficult times."

Price, a Burlington resident of 15 years, said he could not imagine this could happen here. His nephew lives in the West Bank with Price's sister and their family and thought Awartani would be safer in the U.S.

"Tragic irony is not even the right phrase, but to have them come to stay with me for Thanksgiving and have something like this happen speaks to the level of civic vitriol, speaks to the level of hatred that exists in some forms in this country, speaks to the sickness of gun violence that exists in this country," he said.

Radi Tamimi, Abdalhamid's uncle, was also present at the news conference having just arrived from California.

"Kinnan grew up in the West Bank and we always thought that could be the more risk in terms of safety and sending him here would be the right decision," Tamimi said. "We feel somehow betrayed in that decision here. We’re just trying to come to terms with it."

Will Eaton be charged with a hate crime?

A hate crime charge comes with an increased burden of proof including proving motive, according to Chittenden County States' Attorney Sarah George. The enhancement would be added to the three charges of attempted murder and must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The three charges already carry the potential for a life sentence each. If a hate crime enhancement is included, it wouldn't add to the total prison time possible, but it could be utilized as an "aggravating factor" that a judge could take into consideration.

The victims did not report the shooter saying anything to them in advance, so authorities are seeking motive by looking through personal devices retrieved at Eaton's residence which could take time.

"Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear there is no question this was a hateful act," George said.

"We currently live in a world of divisiveness and hate rather than inclusion and love. Our media and our social media are often filled with harmful and false rhetoric that promotes hateful beliefs and pits us against one another. When this rhetoric is coupled with a nation obsessed with firearms and easy access to the same, violence is not just predictable it is inevitable. As much as we claim otherwise, Vermont is no exception to this," she said.

Two of the men had been wearing traditional Palestinian scarves and the group were speaking in both Arabic and English before they were shot, according to their reports. While the two representatives for the families expressed fear the young men were targeted based on the fact they were Arabs, they supported the rule of law playing out before leaping to conclusions of a hate crime.

"We families fear that this was motivated by hate. That these young men were targeted because they were Arabs − they were wearing Keffiyehs," Price said. "I speak for my sister’s family: we believe in the sanctity of presumption of innocence and due process and so we support the authorities as they go through their investigation."

Similarly, Tamimi expressed the Abdalhamid family's desire to let due process run its course, while also feeling the shooting wasn't indiscriminate.

“It’s hard to imagine at this time with everything that’s happening that it was just a random act. It doesn’t feel that way," he said.

Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @aprildbarton.