Chapel Hill shooter Craig Stephen Hicks had ongoing parking dispute with victims

CBS News
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 21:18 UTC

© AFP Photo/Sara D. Davis

Craig Stephen Hicks sits in the Durham County courtroom for his first appearance in the shooting deaths of three University of North Carolina students on February 11, 2015.

Police say that an ongoing dispute over parking may have led a triple murder on Tuesday night, but CBS affiliate WRAL reports that the local prosecutor is not ruling out the possibility that the shooting was a hate crime. All three victims were reportedly Muslim.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Sources told WRAL that all three victims were shot in the head.

Hicks turned himself in to the Chatham County Sheriff's Office following the shooting, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m., reports WRAL.

"Based on the brutal nature of this crime, the past anti-religion statements of the alleged perpetrator, the religious attire of two of the victims and the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society, we urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to quickly address speculation of a possible bias motive in this case," said Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest civil advocacy group for Muslims. "Our heartfelt condolences go to the families and loved ones of the victims and to the local community."

Chapel Hill's police chief Chris Blue said in a statement that the department understands "the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case."

Hicks was being held without bond early Wednesday in the Durham County jail. He is scheduled to make a first court appearance Wednesday morning, and officials said he is cooperating with the investigation.

According to a statement on the UNC-Chapel Hill website, Barakat was a second-year dental student at the university. His wife, Yusor Mohammad, was set to begin dental studies in the fall.

WRAL reports that according to a page on YouCaring.com, a free online fundraising website, Barakat was one of the organizers of an effort to raise money to provide free dental care to students of the Salaam School in Turkey. Barakat and others were reportedly scheduled to travel to Turkey in the summer of 2015 to treat children who have become refugees due to the ongoing Syrian civil war.

According to WRAL, Abu-Salha, Mohammad's younger sister, is listed as a sophomore at NC State and a graduate of Athens Drive High School in Raleigh.

Comment: Killing over a parking dispute? This is purely a hate crime despite what Hicks' wife claims:

The wife of alleged Chapel Hill shooter Craig Stephen Hicks may have defended her husband in the wake of the murder of three Muslim students Tuesday, but Karen Hicks is now seeking a divorce from the suspect, according to a report from the Associated Press. After saying her husband "champions the rights of others," Hicks released a statement through her lawyer saying that she was divorcing Craig, who many believe targeted the students because of his anti-religion views.

Hicks, who had been married to the alleged shooter for seven years, told reporters Wednesday that the shooting had "nothing to do with religion" but was related to a long-standing parking dispute with the victims, CBS reported. Her lawyers also asserted that the suspect, 46, was a "champion of Second Amendment rights" who "believed everyone is equal."

Hicks is accused of murdering Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. The three were found shot dead in their apartment in the condominium complex where Hicks also lives. The killings have sparked outrage among people who view it as a possible bias attack based on Hicks' social media postings expressing anti-religion views.

"When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me," Hicks wrote in a post on his Facebook page, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. "If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I. But given that it doesn't, and given the enormous harm that your religion has done in this world, I'd say that I have not only a right, but a duty, to insult it, as does every rational, thinking person on this planet." The father of the female victims said he believes the students were targeted for their Muslim faith and that his daughters had previously told him that Hicks "hates us for what we are and how we look," the News and Observer reported.

Cynthia Hurley, the suspected shooter's ex-wife, told the AP that prior to their divorce 17 years ago, his favorite movie was "Falling Down," a 1993 film about a divorced unemployed engineer who goes on a shooting rampage. "That always freaked me out. He watched it incessantly. He thought it was hilarious. He had no compassion at all," she said.