The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee has categorized the shooting as a hate crime.

The families of three Palestinian university students who were shot on Saturday in Vermont called on U.S. officials to investigate the incident as a hate crime, as the victims were wearing keffiyeh and speaking Arabic when attacked. 

Burlington police said Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed, and Kinnan Abdalhamid were confronted and shot by a man near the University of Vermont Campus. 

Authorities later said two of the individuals were in stable condition, while the third victim sustained much more severe injuries.

According to the New York Times, Burlington police named the suspect Jason J. Eaton and searched his residence, stating that the shooting occurred in front of his apartment building.

Chief of the Burlington police, Jon Murad, has not ruled out that the shooting could have been motivated by hate. 

“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” Murad said in a statement on Sunday. 

The families of the victims released a statement through the nonprofit Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), calling for a “thorough investigation.” 

“We are extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of our children,” the statement said. “We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice.”

In response to the shooting of the Palestinians, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged the public to “unequivocally denounce the startling rise of anti-Arab hate and Islamophobia in America.”

A coalition of Ivy League students for Palestine asked for students to “wear their keffiyehs and the colors of the Palestinian flag in solidarity. In the face of hatred, we will not stand down.”