Three Palestinian students shot while visiting Burlington, Vt., according to police

All three are 20-year-old men, who attend Brown University, Trinity College, and Haverford College, according to the schools.

Two of the students are in stable condition, but one has “much more serious injuries,” the Burlington Police Department said in a statement Sunday afternoon, which did not identify the students.

Three Palestinian college students are in the hospital after being shot in Burlington, Vt., according to police, who said they are investigating whether the Saturday night shooting was a hate crime.

Haverford College, which is in suburban Philadelphia, said a student at the school, Kinnan Abdalhamid, “is recovering from a gunshot wound in a hospital in Burlington, VT, after he and two of his lifelong friends were shot near the University of Vermont campus by an unknown assailant(s) Saturday evening.”

Trinity College said that Tahseen Aliahmad, a student at the school, was among the three.

A spokesperson for Brown University said an “undergraduate currently enrolled in his junior year at the university is in the hospital after being shot while out-of-state for the Thanksgiving break.”

The school declined to release further information, and added that it is “actively offering care to the family” and support to students.

This incident comes as a war raging between Israel and Hamas has raised tensions in the US, which has seen anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate crimes rise over the past month and a half since the conflict flared up.

Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said his department is looking into whether the triple shooting was a hate crime.

“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” Murad said in the statement. “And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”

But, he added, “I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”

No arrest has been made, and police said they had no information about a motive.

The three men were visiting the Burlington home of relatives of one victim’s relatives over the Thanksgiving holiday, the statement said.

“The three were walking on Prospect Street when they were confronted by a white male with a handgun,” the police said in a statement. “Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot.”

Two of the victims were struck their torsos, and one in the lower extremities, according to the statement.

All three are “of Palestinian descent,” the statement said, and two are US citizens, while the third is a legal resident.

Two of the students were wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian head coverings, at the time of the assault, according to police.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement, “Violence of any kind against any person in our community is totally unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to find the perpetrator and hold them fully accountable. That there is an indication this shooting could have been motivated by hate is chilling, and this possibility is being prioritized in the BPD’s investigation.”

Vermont Governor Phil Scott called the shooting “a tragedy.”

“I have offered the State’s full support to the Mayor and Burlington Police Chief as this senseless crime is investigated, and in support of the Palestinian and broader Burlington community,” Scott said in a statement. “I urge Vermonters to unite to help the community heal, and not let this incident incite more hate or divisiveness.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations offered a $10,000 reward in a statement for information about the shooting.

FBI spokesperson Sarah Ruane said in a statement, that the bureau is aware of the incident in Burlington and are working with our state and local law enforcement in Vermont.

“If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,” she said in the statement.

The head of the Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank, wrote in an email that the three had attended the Quaker school before going to college in the US.

”Though we are grateful for their survival, the fear looms large, intensified by the knowledge that many of our students are scattered across the globe pursuing their studies,” Rania Maayah said in the email Sunday. “We do not think this was a random act,” she said, adding that she was afraid they were signaled out “for wearing the kufiya and speaking Arabic.”

She added, ”These three bright students study at prominent universities in the US and have a bright future ahead.”

Sean Cotter can be reached at him .