The families of three Palestinian students injured in a shooting near the University of Vermont have sent a message condemning certain media coverage of the suspect, Jason Eaton.
The three 20-year-olds – Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmad – were ambushed by a gunman as they walked to a family Thanksgiving in Burlington on Saturday night. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime.
Mr Eaton, 48, was arrested the next day near the scene of the attack. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder.
In the wake of his arrest, Mr Eaton’s mother alleged that he suffered from depression. In a statement on Tuesday, the families of the victims denounced media reports deflecting blame for the shooting on the suspect’s alleged mental health struggles.
“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,” they wrote.
Also on Tuesday, NBC News unearthed police reports in which Mr Eaton’s ex-girlfriend accused him of sending her “harassing” messages of a sexual nature in 2019.
