update
9:45 AM PT — The suspect accused of shooting three Palestinian men has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder in the second degree.
Police released a booking photo of Jason Eaton. He’s being held without bail.
A Vermont man is now in custody after cops claim he shot 3 Palestinian college students in what might be a possible hate crime … this as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East.
48-year-old Jason Eatonwas arrested Sunday near Burlington … the site of the Saturday night shooting when 3 young men of Palestinian descent were fired upon on the street as they were walking and speaking Arabic and heading to a family dinner.
They’ve since been identified as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid … all of whom attend different universities in New England, including Brown.
At least 2 of them were also wearing traditional Keffiyeh scarves … a garment often worn in Muslim countries. Because of this and the fact they were seemingly attacked without provocation, U.S. officials are saying this might be a hate crime, and the feds are investigating whether that’s the case or not.
As for Eaton … it’s unclear what charges, exactly, he’s facing at this point — but he’s due to be arraigned Monday. When announcing his arrest, law enforcement cited “three incidents of aggravated assault.”
He’s said to be a local resident of the area, and reportedly doesn’t live far from the shooting.
