FBI PROBES CHAPEL HILL SHOOTING
New York, 26 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/16 February 2015 (MINA) – As the US President Barack Obama condemned the brutal killing of the young Muslims in North Carolina, the FBI launched an inquiry parallel to police investigation to probe the heinous crime, after several calls by Muslim groups to open a full hate crime investigation.
“No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship,” the president said in a statement released by the White House, The New York Times reported.
“As we saw with the overwhelming presence at the funeral of these young Americans, we are all one American family,” On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23 his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21 and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were found dead at a condominium complex off campus.
The gunman, identified as 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, reportedly turned himself into police.
Coming under pressure from several Muslim groups and other community organizations, the FBI, federal prosecutors and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice launched the inquiry.
A few days after Chapel Hill shooting, more than 100 advocacy and community organizations called on the Department of Justice “to open a full and rigorous federal hate crime investigation and to publicly condemn this heinous attack,” according to Buzz Feed.
Keeping silent over Chapel Hill shooting, the US president has been criticized by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and other Muslims leaders for not offering condolences to the Muslim families.
Obama’s condemnation came a day after Erdogan’s criticism.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the three Muslim victims, saying that they represented the best values of global citizenship.
“At a time of troubling tensions stoked by those who seek to twist the teachings of faith and sow division, these three young people represented the best values of global citizenship and active community compassion to build a better world for all,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric was quoted by Reuters.
Welcomed
Opening an FBI inquiry into the fatal shooting was welcomed by many advocates for Muslims, civil rights groups and the victims’ families.
“Everybody in both families — brothers, sisters, parents — believes wholeheartedly that this is a hate crime, so they feel validated that the F.B.I. is looking into it,” said Linda Sarsour, who has acted as a spokeswoman for the families.
“We’re in a pretty critical juncture when it comes to Americans and Islam.”
As victims’ families believe that the inquiry into Chapel Hill reflects the government’s seriousness while tackling anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias, they casted doubts about the “capacity of local authorities to handle the case”.
“As of yesterday, the family hadn’t even been approached by law enforcement,”
“They were already feeling like there was something missing.”
Reassuring the Muslim community, the United States attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, Ripley Rand, stressed that his office was committed to “fully investigating” the case.
“I intend to review every piece of evidence involved in it to make sure that we do our part to see that justice is done,” Rand said.
“This is obviously a matter of global concern.”
The assailant, Hicks, has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Hicks’s Facebook page shows a regular media user who described himself as a supporter of “Atheists for Equality”.
His most recent posts included a picture from United Atheists of America asking “why radical Christians and radical Muslims are so opposed to each others’ influence when they agree about so many ideological issues”.
Other posts clearly mocked religion, supporting atheism. In one of his photos, he describes as his “loaded 38 revolver” and himself separately on a quad bike and wearing a suit.
Searching his home, police sized at least a dozen firearms including handguns, shotguns, rifles and a black Bushmaster AR-15. (T/P011/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
