Man pleads not guilty in shooting of 3 Palestinian college students

The man accused of shooting three young men of Palestinian descent in Vermont on Saturday pleaded not guilty to charges during a brief court appearance.

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Jason Eaton, 48, appeared in court Monday by video. He was ordered held without bail ahead of a to-be-scheduled hearing to determine whether to allow for his release.

Eaton is accused of shooting three 20-year-old men visiting one of their relatives in Burlington for Thanksgiving. In a news release obtained by the Burlington Free Press, police said the men were walking on Prospect Street around 6:25 p.m. on Saturday when they were confronted by Eaton. Without speaking, Eaton fired at least four shots, hitting two of the men in their torsos and the third in his lower extremities, authorities said.

Two of the men were in stable condition after the shooting while the third “sustained much more serious injuries,” according to police.

The shooting happened near the University of Vermont campus. In a statement issued Sunday, school officials noted that there was “no indication of a connection to the university community.”

Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found Eaton on Sunday while canvassing the area where the shooting happened. Authorities searched his apartment, which is in the building in front of the shooting scene, and recovered evidence that “gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,” police said.

They did not immediately elaborate.

It remained unclear Monday what prompted the attack. Police said two of the victims — identified by family members as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad — were wearing traditional Palestinian scarves called keffiyehs at the time of the shooting. They cautioned that it remained too soon to determine a possible motive.

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

“The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now. But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”