Vermont shooting suspect Jason James Eaton, 48, Monday pled not guilty to attempted murder of three Palestinian students

He allegedly shot the three 20-year-olds without provocation as they walked along a street in Burlington, Vermont, on Saturday afternoon

Palestinian college students Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdel Hamid, all 20, were visiting Awartani’s grandmother’s house in Vermont when they were shot on Saturday afternoon

The suspect is a 48-year-old former financial adviser and part-time farmer who describes himself as a ‘radical’ libertarian on the ‘ADHD spectrum’

The students – two U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident – were speaking Arabic when the gunman opened fire

Two victims at the time, were wearing the traditional black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves

Police are probing whether the shooting was a hate crime ‘amid growing Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian rhetoric in the US and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war overseas’

Jason James Eaton, [photo], 48, appeared before a judge at a virtual court hearing Monday and pled not guilty to three counts of attempted second degree murder. Described as ‘very religious’, he’s suspected of shooting college students Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed in a hate crime

The Vermont resident accused of shooting three Palestinian students in Vermont on Saturday in a suspected hate crime has been identified as ‘very religious’, ‘radical citizen’ Jason James Eaton.
Eaton arraigned before a judge at a virtual court hearing Monday where he pled not guilty to three counts of attempted second degree murder.
He is being held without bail.
He is accused of shooting college student Hisham Awartani, 20, who were visiting one’s grandmother’s house along with his two friends. Awartani, and his friends, also 20, were shot and injured on Saturday afternoon.
The suspect is a 48-year-old former financial adviser and part-time farmer who describes himself as a ‘radical’ libertarian on the ‘ADHD spectrum’. 
His social media pages are largely private, but hint at a disillusionment towards America. 

Palestinian college students Hisham Awartani, [left], Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdel Hamid [right], were visiting Awartani’s grandmother’s house in Vermont when they were shot on Saturday afternoon.

Victims have been identified as Hisham Awartani, a a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, who was shot in the spine, Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, who suffered a gunshot wound in the buttock and Tahseen Aliahmad, a student of Trinity College, Texas, who was shot in the upper chest, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Eaton allegedly shot the trio from about two yards away. Two of the victims are in stable condition, police said, and the third is seriously injured.
In the affidavit, Aliahmad states that they were smoking cigarettes when Eaton shot them.

Awartani told police that Aliahmad was screaming and fell during the grisly crime, he called 911 and a man then approached them with blankets, the affidavit states..
Abdalhamid told police that when they walked past a white house, a “wonky” man was staring at them and stumbled down the stairs before he walked up with a pulled-out pistol, the affidavit states.
Believing that the man was going to shoot them, Abdalhamid said he ran across the street and jumped a fence where he hid for approximately two minutes before he ran to another yard and begged a woman to call 911. When he sat down at the residence, he said, he realized that he was wounded.

Eaton’s shocked mother Mary Reed said her adult son he has had his ‘struggles’ in the past but that nothing indicated he was capable of such violence. He is a ‘very religious’ person but had seemed normal on Thanksgiving, she said

The alleged shooter’s mother, Mary Reed, said her adult son has had his ‘struggles’ in the past, but that nothing indicated he was capable of such violence. 
She said he is a ‘very religious’ person, but had seemed normal when she spent Thanksgiving with him on Thursday, two days before the shooting.
‘He, like all of us, thinks the world is a mess. He is a spiritual person,’ she said. 
‘Jason has had a lot of struggles in his life but he is such a kind and loving person. 
‘I am just shocked by the whole thing,’ she said. 
His mother said he previously worked as an assistant in an office, but has bounced around different jobs. 
They spent Thanksgiving together on Thursday and it was one of the best ‘in years’, she said.  

Vermont police arrested Jason James Eaton, the alleged gunman accused of shooting the three Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vermont shortly after the incident on Sunday

The arrest affidavit states that when authorities arrived at Eaton’s home on Sunday, he said there was a shotgun inside. Authorities also confirmed that Eaton bought a Ruger .380 caliber pistol in April.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he told an ATF agent, the affidavit states.
Two of the victims were in stable condition and the other suffered ‘much more serious injuries,’ Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement Sunday. 
The three, all age 20, were walking during a visit to the home of Hisham Awartani’s grandmother’s when they were confronted. ‘Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled,’ Murad said.
‘All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities.’

EMTs rescue Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed after the were shot, allegedly by James Jason Eaton in Burlington on Saturday. The victims, all 20, are college students

First responders loading one of the victims into an ambulance after Saturday’s shooting

One of the ominous social media postings of Eaton is a former financial adviser, part-time farmer and self described ‘radical’ libertarian on the ‘ADHD spectrum’ – ‘Pa-trolling demockracy and capitalism for oathcreepers’

The alleged gunman Burlington resident Jason Eaton, 48, was taken into custody Sunday afternoon, Burlington police said.
Eaton lives in an apartment building near where the triple shooting happened and was arrested by ATF agents around 3:30 p.m. Sunday for allegedly shooting and wounding the three 20-year-olds, cops said.
When ATF agents approached Eaton, the suspect allegedly told them, “I’ve been waiting for you,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
The suspect told investigators there was a shotgun in his apartment, the affidavit says, but would not identify himself or say whether there were other firearms in his home.
Executing a search warrant, agents found a Ruger .380 LCP handgun, along with a loaded magazine with inside his top dresser drawer.
Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid were all shot Saturday as they walked to a family dinner, police and Arab American officials said.
the students according to the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee were rushed to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where two were listed in stable condition and the third in serious condition.
“All three victims survived the initial shooting, however, two of them are currently in ICU and one of the students has sustained very critical and serious injuries,” the ADC said in a statement.

20-yearold college student Hisham Awartani, one of the trio injured in the gun attack. He like the other two victims, is recovering from his wounds. He was visiting his grandmother in Burlington, VT, in the company of his two friends at the time of the attack

The victims are all of Palestinian descent. Two are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident. However, two of the men reportedly were wearing the traditional black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, when they were attacked.
The students were also reportedly speaking Arabic when the gunman opened fire, according to the ADC.
Police are probing whether the shooting was a hate crime amid growing Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian rhetoric in the US and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war overseas.
‘In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime. And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven,’ Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said.
‘The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now,’ Murad added.
‘But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.’
“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said Sunday, “and I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released a statement Sunday saying that the victims were Palestinian American college students and that there is ‘reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab.’