Police say that Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, murdered three Muslim-American students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Tuesday, and their "preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking." Hicks' wife, Karen, was more direct: "I can say with absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or the victims' faith, but it was related to a longstanding parking dispute that my husband had with the neighbors."
But the family of the three young victims — newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat and Yusor Mohammad, and Mohammad's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha — call parking an unlikely motive. They aren't alone. News of the murders has spread across the world, and spread fear through North Carolina's Muslim community, already on edge after the Charlie Hebdo murders in France, The New York Times reports. "We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated, and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case," said Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue in a statement.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'There will be a market incentive to build wind and solar anyway'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Geoff Dyer's 6 favorite books about the realities of warFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr, and more
-
Book review: 'A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck'Feature A couple works to keep their marriage together while lost at sea
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
