WASHINGTON-
Police have arrested a gunman in the killing of three people in the town of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, US news reports said.
The shooter, identified as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was being held in Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder, the Chapel Hill News and Observer newspaper and other news outlets said.
It said the victims were identified as Chapel Hill residents Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.
Hicks turned himself in, news reports said.
Chapel Hill is home to a campus of the University of North Carolina.
Local reports said Deah Barakat was a second-year student in dentistry and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha was planning to begin her dental studies in the fall.
Abu-Salha was a student at North Carolina State University, according to the UNC university newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel.
Police in Chapel Hill have not said what the motive of the shooting was.
Police were not immediately available for comment.
Their website released a statement confirming the three deaths and saying the department is “questioning a person of interest in the crime and has reason to believe that there is no ongoing threat to the public.
The shooting has been met with an outpouring of anger on social media, where people claimed they had been “murdered execution style”.
Following a lack of coverage in US or international media, a hashtag #Muslimlivesmatter started on Twitter;
3 Muslim college students killed in cold blood. No media attention or outrage #MuslimLivesMatter #ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/FuCN3XAkA3
— Diana (@lunarnomad) February 11, 2015
If it were a Muslim who shot 3 innocent christians it’ll be on CNN within minutes but I guess society only works one way #MuslimLivesMatter
— Meech Uchiha (@KINGMEECH35) February 11, 2015
MUSLIM LIVES MATTER. THIS WILL NOT BE THROWN UNDER THE RUG BY WHITE MEDIA. MUSLIM. LIVES. MATTER. #MuslimLivesMatter
— mango baby (@neuroluv) February 11, 2015
Mainstream media is not reporting it. Let’s ask about this. Let’s talk about it. Don’t let them sweep it under the rug. #MuslimLivesMatter
— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) February 11, 2015
On @CNN even robot pets are more important than minority lives. #ChapelHillShooting #MuslimLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/GIeUG4QDEk
— Damiyr Andre (@KingDamiyr) February 11, 2015
Razan was a student at NC state actually. Deah's charity was raising money for Syrian children
No one will react on this bad incident.. and the report moves from 1 desk to another.. RIP
and obviously it is not a terrorist attack and the perpetrator is not a relgious extremist. Yet when a Muslim person is behind such incidents, it suddenly becomes a super dangerous, extremely well planned terrorist attack and entire relgion gets labelled as being responsible for the killnig.
We don't yet know what the killers motivation was…perhaps he is an ISIS supporter who killed Muslims because of a different sect?…
BLA BLA GA GA
Terrorism is defined as utilizing violence or intimidation in order to enforce a political, ideological, or religious objective. The so-called "Muslims" that had conducted the shooting within Paris had possessed a religious agenda. However, the following acts were not motivated as an act of terror. Hundreds of non-Muslims are murdered without any information from the media, as-well. Thus, the outrage is quite over exaggerated.
Perhaps this was no terrorism according to these so called 'democratics'….Freedom for everyone to kill Muslims….Yes this is their freedom and democracy!….These were sisters of none…these were no one's relatives..and these were children of none!…Is it? And what if the killer was a Muslim and they christians? This would have caused an uproar in the whole world…all the news channels criticising Muslims and proclaiming all the Muslims of the world terrorists….This soooo much equality of justice is just beyond my comprehension!
This was a tragic event, there is no doubt about that. At the very least it was probably a hate crime. But that does not make it a terrorist act. You are rightfully upset that 3 of your own have been murdered. Be thankful it has not gotten mass media coverage, that is not always a good thing in this country. Do not make it a Muslim vs Christian thing either. Talk about it for what it probably was, a hate crime. For that we have sympathy, understanding and indignation. Asking for acknowledgement that this was a terrorist act after 9-11 will draw only ridicule. Many here remember the deafening silence from the Muslim community after that attack. Those few that did speak out also said they understood the motivation behind the attacks. That was not the best thing to say either. You are hurting as a community, but now is the time to consider carefully before you make judgements or accusations. I will pray for the families and their loss.
When Alton Nolen chopped off Colleen Hufford's head while chanting Islamic verses and had ISIS and other terrorist lit on his computer, the US federal govt just catagorized it as work place violence. Did any of you object? No, there was no objections, the story disappeared faster than a mild weather story.
If Muslim Alton Nolen beheaded his coworker as a simple act of violence, this murder is also a simple act of violence over a parking space.
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