By EMMA COTTON/VT- DIGGER
BURLINGTON — Family members of the Palestinian American college students who were shot and wounded Saturday night in Burlington faced TV cameras and a large crowd of local and national reporters on Monday afternoon.
“We’re still in shock over this,” said Radi Tamimi, uncle of Kinnan Abdalhamid, one of the three injured students.
Tamimi and Rich Price, uncle of Hisham Awartani, said they felt betrayed and shocked after their 20-year-old nephews were attacked in America — a place they thought would be safer than the Middle East, where the three men attended high school.
Price said he hosted Awartani and his two friends — Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad — for Thanksgiving at his home on North Prospect Street, a tradition that stretched back several years. Police allege that Jason Eaton, a 48-year-old white Burlington resident, shot the three men as they walked down the street Saturday afternoon.
Saturday’s violence, though thousands of miles from the war raging in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel, has brought national and global attention to Vermont.
“Tragic irony is not even the right phrase, but to have them come stay with me for Thanksgiving and have something like this happen speaks to the level of civic vitriol, speaks to the level of hatred that exists in some corners of this country,” said Price.
Two of the three victims, all 20-year-old men who went to high school together in the West Bank and now attend different colleges in the United States, were wearing keffiyehs, a traditional scarf that has become a symbol of Palestinian identity, when they were shot.
Awartani is a student at Brown University. Abdalhamid attends Haverford College and Aliahmad attends Trinity College. The Ramallah Friends Schools, based in the West Bank, identified them as graduates.
“Kinnan grew up in the West Bank, and we always thought that that could be more of a risk, in terms of his safety, and sending him here would be the right decision,” said Tamimi, Abdalhamid’s uncle, who walked into the press conference late, having only just arrived in Vermont from California. “We feel somehow betrayed in that decision here.”
Earlier on Saturday, Aliahmad, Abdalhamid and Awartani attended a birthday party at a bowling alley for Price’s twin 8-year-old sons.
“If you’re in college, who wants to go to an 8-year-old
birthday party? But these three guys did,” Price said. “They came. They played with my boys. We had just come home and they were walking around the block, and this is when this happened.”
Price told reporters that he has been in the hospital with the three men since the shooting took place on Saturday, and that all three are in the intensive care unit. While Abdalhamid sustained injuries, he is likely to make a “full and speedy recovery,” Price said. Aliahmad is “in quite a lot of pain,” but is also expected to recover. Awartani, Price’s nephew, suffered a spinal injury and “faces a long recovery,” he said.
“I’ve been listening to them talk to one another and try to process the events, and I’m blown away by their resilience, by their good humor in the face of these difficult times,” Price said.
While some national groups have called on authorities to prosecute the case as a hate crime, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George told reporters at Monday’s press conference that her team does not “yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement.”
“I do want to be clear that there is no question: This was a hateful act,” George said.
Price and Tamimi both said that while they strongly suspect and fear that the shooting was motivated by hate, they plan to defer to the legal system to determine whether it can be prosecuted as a hate crime.
“I believe the families fear that this was motivated by hate, that these boys — these young men — were targeted, because they were Arabs, they were wearing keffiyehs. I think that is our fear,” Price said.
He added, speaking on behalf of his family, that “we believe in the sanctity of the presumption of innocence and due process, and so we will support the authorities as they go through their investigation.”
“It certainly seems like — that’s our fear,” he said.
Tamimi said he agreed, and that “it’s hard to imagine, in this time, with everything that’s happening, that it was just a random act. It doesn’t feel that way,” he said.
“We are absolutely willing to wait and find out, and let due process take its course,” he said.
Quickly surrounded by reporters and bright camera lights after the press conference, Tamimi spoke about Abdalhamid’s childhood and experience in America “He’s a very empathetic boy, and just — we’re all broken up that he’s experienced this here, because I know it’s going to change how he feels about where he is, and I don’t want that to happen,” Tamimi said.
He said his sister, Abdalhamid’s mother, grew up in the United States and moved to Palestine around 2000. Abdalhamid was born in Illinois, and Tamimi lived with his sister and nephew for several years before his sister moved back to Palestine. Abdalhamid lived in the West Bank for most of his life until he moved back to the United States to attend Haverford College. Tamimi said he keeps in regular contact with Abdalhamid.
“For this to happen is really shocking, and it can really change someone’s life,” Tamimi said. “And that’s what I’m afraid of.”
Price, who has lived in Burlington for 15 years, described the shock that such an event could happen so close to home.
“We take a lot of pride in this community being a welcoming and inclusive city,” he said.
“This is not who Burlington is. This is not what the city’s values reflect. And that’s what makes it all the more devastating.”
Politicians, organizations, student groups and government officials have responded to the shooting with an outpouring of statements condemning the violence. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said he started Monday’s press conference several minutes late because he had been on the phone with President Joe Biden.
Among those reacting to Saturday’s shooting include a group of Burlington-area rabbis who said they were “saddened and appalled by the shooting of three Palestinian American college students.”
“Our hearts go out to these young men and their loved ones and to the Vermont Palestinian and Muslim communities. We hope the perpetrator(s) will be brought to justice,” read the statement, signed by Rabbi David Edleson with Temple Sinai, Rabbi Aaron Philmus with Ohavi Zedek Synagogue and Rabbi Jan Salzman with Congregation Ruach haMaqom. (On Monday night, Jewish Communities of Vermont announced that the leaders of many other synagogues and Jewish faith groups in Vermont — from Brattleboro and Bennington to Woodstock and Stowe — had also signed on to the statement.)
The rabbis said they contacted the Islamic Center of Vermont to offer a message of support.
“We pray for the recovery and strength of those impacted by this horrific act,” the group wrote.
In an interview, Wafic Faour, a Palestinian and a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, who had helped organize a rally on Sunday, said members of the Palestinian community are “angry, terrified, horrified.”
He expressed disappointment that officials, including George, the state’s attorney, have not yet found evidence to support charging Eaton, the suspected shooter, with a hate crime.
“All the officials, including Sarah George, said, it’s a hateful crime, but it’s not a hate crime. How is that?” he said.
While Faour said he stands with the family members who said they suspect the shooting was motivated by hate, he said he is skeptical of the legal process and that he hopes it will be fair. He cited rising violence and hateful rhetoric against Palestinians across the country.
The Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, a group of organizations, is planning a Dec. 2 rally on the Statehouse lawn, he said.
“We’re going to fight against all racism: Islamophobia, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and antisemitism, as well,” he said.
When reporters asked Tamimi, Abdalhamid’s uncle, whether he had a message for other Palestinians, Tamimi said that “everyone is family in the Palestinian community right now.”
“That support system is what’s keeping us all sane, quite frankly, among this craziness and chaos,” he said.
