Community members react to Burlington triple shooting

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Machara Renz was walking into her North Prospect Street apartment when she heard gunshots.

“You can’t really mistake gunshots,” Renz said. “It’s kind of something you know when you hear it. And then not even two minutes later, we started hearing sirens going off.”

Across the street, Renz spotted two people laying in a yard, screaming. It’s something she never thought she’d see in her neighborhood, just minutes from UVM.

“It’s disturbing when you’re seeing that happen,” Renz said. “This part of Burlington is definitely considered to be quote unquote on the more safe side.”

Following calls of gunshots around 6:25 p.m., Burlington Police found Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed suffering from gunshot wounds. The men were taken to UVM Medical Center, where two are in stable condition and the third is seriously injured.

Police say the victims are all 20-year-old Palestinian-Americans who were visiting family in Burlington for Thanksgiving.

The men told police they were walking along North Prospect when a white man with a handgun confronted them, shooting all three. The victims told police they were speaking Arabic and two were wearing keffiyehs when they were shot. Police haven’t identified the shooter or a motive but are considering a potential hate crime.

In a statement, Burlington Chief of Police Jon Murad said, “In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime.”

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger called the shooting “chilling,” saying, “The City of Burlington has zero tolerance for hate crimes and will work relentlessly to bring the shooter to justice.”

Cindy Wolkin lives around the corner from the scene of the shooting. While out for a walk on Sunday, she said it’s hard not to speculate about the crime.

“I think you have to be very careful not to use your emotions to jump to conclusions but Burlington does feel a little different to me now,” Wolkin said.

Police canvassed the neighborhood, looking for witnesses and home surveillance camera video. They also recovered ballistics evidence. Police in Burlington are being assisted by other local police, state police and federal investigators.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the shooter’s arrest and conviction.