Live Updates: Suspect arrested in shooting of students of Palestinian descent in Vermont

What to know about shootings

• Police arrested Jason J. Eaton, 48, near the scene of Saturday's shooting.
• The victims were identified by relatives as Hisham Awartani, a junior at Brown University, Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and Tahseen Ahmed, a student at Connecticut's Trinity College.
• The FBI late last night indicated that it has been investigating the shooting, following an earlier statement that information about “a potential federal violation” would be needed to trigger its participation.

7m ago / 3:40 PM UTC

Brown student was shot down the street from his grandmother's house

David K. Li

Hisham Awartani’s loved ones can’t grasp how he was shot around the corner from “granny’s house” and on “a street he’s basically grown up on,” the victim’s mother said.

Awartani’s father didn’t want the Brown University junior coming home to the Middle East for the Christmas holidays, believing it was prudent for him to stay with his wife’s family in Burlington.

“The short-term shock is now evolving into something more complex as he tries to frame who he is in the world and what it means to be safe in America, particularly when you get shot down the street from your granny’s house in a street he’s basically grown up on,” Awartani’s mother, Elizabeth Price, told NBC News on Monday from Ramallah, a town in the West Bank.

“He’s been going there since he was 8 or maybe 10. So for him to have that taken away from him, I don’t know what that means for any of the boys and their ability to function normally.”

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21m ago / 3:26 PM UTC

'This was a targeted shooting,' American Arab advocacy organization official says

Mirna Alsharif

Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the three students shot in Burlington were targeted because they are Palestinian.

“There is a lot of evidence, again, pointing to the fact that they were wearing the keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf, and they were not robbed, they were not held up, and it was not an act of domestic violence,” he told “TODAY.” “This was a targeted shooting.”

Ayoub said there is reason to believe the person who shot the Palestinian students “approached them, followed them and shot them because of their race and ethnicity.” The ADC is working to verify reports that the students were speaking Arabic when they were shot.

Police have not yet indicated whether they believe the shooting was related to their ethnicity.

“Regardless, the suspect, again, who was on foot, targeted these individuals, ran off, didn’t take anything from them, didn’t hold them up and just went about his business as if nothing had happened,” Ayoub said.

He said the ADC has seen a rise in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment that’s led to members of these communities being targeted in the U.S. Ayoub specifically cited the murder of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois last month.

The three victims are “just like other students in this country,” Ayoub said, who “want to set out, do the right thing, go to school, do what they can, stay out of trouble and become successful.”

“We need to ensure the safety of our students. We need to ensure the safety of Arabs and Palestinians,” he said.

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27m ago / 3:20 PM UTC

FBI and ATF still investigating

Michael Kosnar

Attorney General Merrick Garland said this morning at a meeting with federal, state and local law enforcement leaders that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, are continuing to investigate the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont.

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1h ago / 2:27 PM UTC

Suspect in Burlington shooting will be arraigned this morning

Mirna Alsharif

The suspect accused of shooting three students of Palestinian descent Saturday night will be arraigned this morning, according to officials.

Jason J. Eaton, 48, will be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. at the Chittenden Criminal Courtroom in Vermont.

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1h ago / 2:27 PM UTC

Police arrest suspect in Burlington shooting

Rudy Chinchilla, Josh Cradduck and Dennis Romero

A suspect was arrested overnight in connection with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont.

Burlington police said Jason J. Eaton, 48, was detained yesterday afternoon near the scene of the shooting. A search of his nearby apartment “gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,” police said in a statement. He was arrested late last night and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, they added.

Police earlier said the shooter, who is white, said nothing before firing at the victims. Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, according to police, and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee said they were speaking Arabic. Police said two of the three victims, all 20 years old, are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident.

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Mirna Alsharif contributed.7m ago / 3:40 PM UTC

Brown student was shot down the street from his grandmother's house

David K. Li

Hisham Awartani’s loved ones can’t grasp how he was shot around the corner from “granny’s house” and on “a street he’s basically grown up on,” the victim’s mother said.

Awartani’s father didn’t want the Brown University junior coming home to the Middle East for the Christmas holidays, believing it was prudent for him to stay with his wife’s family in Burlington.

“The short-term shock is now evolving into something more complex as he tries to frame who he is in the world and what it means to be safe in America, particularly when you get shot down the street from your granny’s house in a street he’s basically grown up on,” Awartani’s mother, Elizabeth Price, told NBC News on Monday from Ramallah, a town in the West Bank.

“He’s been going there since he was 8 or maybe 10. So for him to have that taken away from him, I don’t know what that means for any of the boys and their ability to function normally.”

• Share this –

21m ago / 3:26 PM UTC

'This was a targeted shooting,' American Arab advocacy organization official says

Mirna Alsharif

Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the three students shot in Burlington were targeted because they are Palestinian.

“There is a lot of evidence, again, pointing to the fact that they were wearing the keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf, and they were not robbed, they were not held up, and it was not an act of domestic violence,” he told “TODAY.” “This was a targeted shooting.”

Ayoub said there is reason to believe the person who shot the Palestinian students “approached them, followed them and shot them because of their race and ethnicity.” The ADC is working to verify reports that the students were speaking Arabic when they were shot.

Police have not yet indicated whether they believe the shooting was related to their ethnicity.

“Regardless, the suspect, again, who was on foot, targeted these individuals, ran off, didn’t take anything from them, didn’t hold them up and just went about his business as if nothing had happened,” Ayoub said.

He said the ADC has seen a rise in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment that’s led to members of these communities being targeted in the U.S. Ayoub specifically cited the murder of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois last month.

The three victims are “just like other students in this country,” Ayoub said, who “want to set out, do the right thing, go to school, do what they can, stay out of trouble and become successful.”

“We need to ensure the safety of our students. We need to ensure the safety of Arabs and Palestinians,” he said.

• Share this –

27m ago / 3:20 PM UTC

FBI and ATF still investigating

Michael Kosnar

Attorney General Merrick Garland said this morning at a meeting with federal, state and local law enforcement leaders that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, are continuing to investigate the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont.

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1h ago / 2:27 PM UTC

Suspect in Burlington shooting will be arraigned this morning

Mirna Alsharif

The suspect accused of shooting three students of Palestinian descent Saturday night will be arraigned this morning, according to officials.

Jason J. Eaton, 48, will be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. at the Chittenden Criminal Courtroom in Vermont.

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1h ago / 2:27 PM UTC

Police arrest suspect in Burlington shooting

Rudy Chinchilla, Josh Cradduck and Dennis Romero

A suspect was arrested overnight in connection with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont.

Burlington police said Jason J. Eaton, 48, was detained yesterday afternoon near the scene of the shooting. A search of his nearby apartment “gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,” police said in a statement. He was arrested late last night and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, they added.

Police earlier said the shooter, who is white, said nothing before firing at the victims. Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, according to police, and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee said they were speaking Arabic. Police said two of the three victims, all 20 years old, are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident.

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