Vermont shooting updates: Palestinian victims’ families share message about suspect Jason Eaton

Hisham Awartani, a junior at Brown University, released a statement on the attack against him and his two friends through Brown University’s Students for Justice in Palestine.

“It’s important to recognize that this is part of the larger story,” Mr Awartani wrote in a statement posted on the organization’s Instagram. “This hideous crime did not happen in a vacuum. As much as I appreciate and love every single one of you here today, I am but one casualty in this much wider conflict.”

Mr Awartani grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His mother, Elizabeth Price, told NPR her husband didn’t want their son coming home to Ramallah for Christmas because he believed Mr Awartani would be safer in the US than in Palestine.

“Had I been shot in the West Bank, where I grew up, the medical services that saved my life here would likely have been withheld by the Israeli army,” Mr Awartani wrote in the statement.

The gunman shot Mr Awartani in the spine during the 25 November attack. His mother told CNN doctors fear Mr Awartani may never walk again because of his injuries.

“I understand that the pain is so much more real and immediate because many of you know me, but any attack like this is horrific, be it here or in Palestine,” Mr Awartani wrote.

The online activity of Jason Eaton — the suspected gunman who shot three Palestinian students over the weekend — has come to light in recent days.

A YouTube account said to belong to the 48-year-old suspect also contains a wide array of videos, including those that discuss government surveillance, economics, and long COVID-19, NBC News reported.

Mr Eaton also posted a video called “Expose Fauci,” in which he tells viewers to use “brain crystals” for “psychic powers,” per NBC.

Mr Eaton is charged with three counts of attempted murder over Saturday’s shooting.

The father of Hisham Awartani — one of three Palestinian students shot and injured by a gunman in Vermont — didn’t want his son to come home for Christmas, believing the US would be safer than the West Bank.

“My husband didn’t want Hisham to come back for Christmas,” Mr Awartani’s mother Elizabeth Price told NPR. “He thought our son would be safer than in Palestine.”

Doctors fear Mr Awartani will never walk again after the gunman lodged a bullet in his spine in a possible hate crime over the weekend. As of Tuesday afternoon, Ms Price was traveling to the US from the West Bank to be with her son during his treatment.

New details about suspect Jason Eaton continue to emerge, including an ex-girlfriend’s claims that he was harassing her with sexual messages.

NBC News obtained police reports detailing the harassment allegations made by the then-36-year-old woman in 2019.

She told officers in DeWitt, New York, that Mr Eaton had sent her “numerous text messages, emails and phone calls,” after making it clear she did not want any contact with him, according to reports seen by NBC.

She said the messages were sexual in nature but not threatening.

The woman contacted police after allegedly seeing Mr Eaton outside her home. She had also had “several domestic disputes” with Mr Eaton, an officer wrote in their report per NBC.

She did not press any charges against Mr Eaton.

Jason Eaton has worked as a Boy Scouts scoutmaster, Harvard research assistant and ski instructor, according to his resume reviewed by The Daily Beast.

The 48-year-old accused of shooting three Palestinian students in Vermont last week studied general studies at the University of Idaho in 2001 but did not graduate.

According to his resume, he also worked as a research assistant at Harvard Forest — run by Harvard University — in Massachusetts in 1999. Afterwards, he reportedly taught science to 5th and 6th graders at the McCall Outdoor Science School in Idaho.

In the past, he also led survival courses and acted as an assistant scoutmaster for a Boy Scouts of America unit in New York, according to his resume.

Suspected gunman Jason Eaton could face 20 years to life in prison if convicted on three counts of second-degree attempted murder, according to Sarah George, the Chittenden County State’s Attorney.

Mr Eaton pleaded not guilty to all three counts on Monday following his arrest the day prior.

While they have not yet made a decision, federal investigators are looking into whether the attack could be considered a hate crime. The three students — all of Palestinian descent — were wearing keffiyehs and speaking both Arabic and English at the time of the attack, police previously said.

On Monday evening, Brown University President Christina Paxson spoke at a vigil for student Hisham Awartani, one of three 20-year-olds injured by a gunman in Burlington, Vermont last week.

“Although we don’t know the details yet, it is horrific that the mere fact that Hisham and his friends were simply being who they are, proud Palestinians, wearing keffiyehs, speaking in Arabic, that may be what prompted the shooting,” she said at the vigil, per The Providence Journal.

Several attendees shouted at Ms Paxson that Brown University must divest from Israel and held signs carrying a similar message, the Journal reported.

“This is how you want to honor your friend? I’m sorry,” Ms Paxson told the crowd when she walked away from the podium, per the Journal. Students chanted “shame” as she left.

The families of the three wounded students are calling on the media to report on suspected gunman Jason Eaton “responsibly and respectfully by not attempting to turn their attacker into a victim.”

“Millions of people in America and across the globe struggle with mental health challenges. That does not make them pick up a gun and attack people based on their identity,” the statement shared by the Institute for Middle East Understanding reads.

The statement comes after Mr Eaton’s mother told The Daily Beast he had struggled with depression in the past.

“We do not accept what this wrongfully implies about people who struggle with their mental health, nor do we accept it as justification or context for this heinous, hate-driven crime,” the statement reads.

“Further, we see the clear double standard; when white men commit crimes, they are described as victims struggling with their mental health and testimonies from family members are shared to describe them as good people—people of color are not given this same treatment,” the statement continues.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Monday that the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont would be investigated as a hate crime.

Under federal law, a hate crime is defined as a criminal act motivated by bias “against people or groups with specific characteristics that are defined by the law”.

Examples of these criminal acts “include assault, murder, arson, vandalism, or threats to commit such crimes”, the DOJ website states.

The hate crime investigation in the Vermont shooting came a month after the DOJ launched a probe into the stabbing of a Palestinian-American boy and his mother in Illinois. The boy was killed, his mother injured, and their landlord arrested for the attack.

In his statement on Monday, Mr Garland said: “There is understandable fear in communities across the country. Even as we speak, the ATF and FBI are investigating the tragic shooting of three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont. That investigation, including whether this is a hate crime, is ongoing.

“The Justice Department is poised to provide any assistance that our state and local law enforcement partners need as we work together to protect our communities.”

The violence in the US comes amid Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza following Hamas attacks on 7 October.

Hisham Awartani, a junior at Brown University, released a statement on the attack against him and his two friends through Brown University’s Students for Justice in Palestine.

“It’s important to recognize that this is part of the larger story,” Mr Awartani wrote in a statement posted on the organization’s Instagram. “This hideous crime did not happen in a vacuum. As much as I appreciate and love every single one of you here today, I am but one casualty in this much wider conflict.”

Mr Awartani grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His mother, Elizabeth Price, told NPR her husband didn’t want their son coming home to Ramallah for Christmas because he believed Mr Awartani would be safer in the US than in Palestine.

“Had I been shot in the West Bank, where I grew up, the medical services that saved my life here would likely have been withheld by the Israeli army,” Mr Awartani wrote in the statement.

The gunman shot Mr Awartani in the spine during the 25 November attack. His mother told CNN doctors fear Mr Awartani may never walk again because of his injuries.

“I understand that the pain is so much more real and immediate because many of you know me, but any attack like this is horrific, be it here or in Palestine,” Mr Awartani wrote.