Suspect charged with three counts of murder in North Carolina for what victims' family members consider a hate crime.
Thousands of people have joined the funeral services for three young Muslim students gunned down in the US state of North Carolina, in what family members said could be "hate crime".
At least 5,000 people gathered at a mosque and nearby sports grounds in the state capital Raleigh on Thursday, to bid goodbye to the victims.
Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher, who was in the state capital, said: "There's a great show of solidarity - and not just in North Carolina."
Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23-year-old University of North Carolina dental student; his 21-year-old wife, Yusor Mohammad; and her 19-year-old sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, were killed at the university town of Chapel Hill on Tuesday allegedly by Craig Stephen Hicks.
The 46-year old suspect has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Police said a long-running dispute over parking spaces may have prompted the deadly attack.
However, family members of the victims have questioned the official explanation.
Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of the two slain women, told local media he considered the killings to be a hate crime.
"The media here bombards the American citizen with Islamic, Islamic, Islamic terrorism and makes people here scared of us and hate us and want us out. So if somebody has any conflict with you, and they already hate you, you get a bullet in the head," Abu-Salha, who is a psychiatrist, said in interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment