Authorities search for suspect who shot 3 Palestinian college students in Vermont

Authorities search for suspect who shot 3 Palestinian college students in Vermont

tonight A man hunt underway for the suspect Who police say shot and injured three Palestinian us college students who are visiting family in Burlington Vermont for Thanksgiving all units be advised the shooters unaccounted for Burlington Police say around 6:30 p.m. Saturday the friends who were speaking Arabic and wearing traditional Palestinian CFA scarves were out walking when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun who without speaking fired at least four rounds before bleeping on foot we heard a man screaming in pain was very scary police say the three men all 20 years old were shot and transported to the hospital families of the victims have identified them as Hama attorney a junior at Brown University and kinin Abdel Hamid a junior at Hanford College both US citizens and Tessin aimed a junior at Trinity College the friends grew up together in the West Bank City of raga Ronnie Amaya is their former School director they're amazing students and we're proud of them and they were there for the Thanksgiving holiday spending it at Hisham's grandmothers the victim's family is releasing a joint statement saying as parents we are devastated by the horrific news that our children were targeted and shot they're calling on law enforcement to treat the investigation as a hate crime we are afraid that it is most likely a crime against Palestinians officials saying there's no known motive yet but the Burlington mayor stressing the possibility of a hate crime is being prioritized in the police investigation tonight families say two of the men are in ICU Hisham recovering after being shot in the spine and the parents who live in the West Bank are now desperately trying to get here to the US to be by their son's side this as the search for the suspect continues Kate thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media