(CNN)A 46-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three students in an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Police said “an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking” may have been a factor in the shootings Tuesday evening. The three victims were all shot in the head, sources told CNN affiliate WRAL.
The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, turned himself in to police later in the night and is being held in the Durham County Jail without bond. He was cooperating with investigators, police said Wednesday morning.
“Our investigators are exploring what could have motivated Mr. Hicks to commit such a senseless and tragic act. We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case,” said Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue.
But given the victims’ religion — they were Muslims — and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims’ faith played.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for police to “address speculation about a possible bias motive” and the Muslim Public Affairs Council is requesting a federal probe “if the motives of the shooter are confirmed based on his previous social media posts.”
The victims were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.
Barakat was Mohammad’s husband; Abu-Salha was her sister, the school said.
Barakat was a second-year student at the UNC School of Dentistry, who was raising money on a fundraising site to provide dental care to Syrian refugees in Turkey.
He had been married for just over a month to Yusor Mohammad, who was planning to begin her dental studies at UNC in the fall, according to the school.
Abu-Salha was a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
Read more: 3 students shot to death in apartment near UNC Chapel Hill
Source: CNN
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