Muslim Student Killings in North Carolina Latest News: Prosecutors Want Death Penalty
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man charged in court for killing three Muslim students in North Carolina.
Craig Hicks, 46, is being held without bail for first-degree murder for shooting to death students and neighbors Deah Barakat, 23; his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha at an apartment complex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Feb. 10.
He surrendered after the shooting.
Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols has filed papers with the court seeking the death penalty for Hicks. A hearing has been set in April.
"I think in this day and time, it gives Muslims a sense of justice," Khalilah Sabra, executive director of the Muslim American Society Immigrant Justice Center, told the Herald Sun.
Sabra added: "The fact that he could murder them in cold blood – I don't think he deserves to have a life either."
The father of Yusor and Razan said he believes that the killing of the three were a hate crime.
"I'm not after revenge or punishment at all, but after protecting all the children who look unique and different," said Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, according to WNCN.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was asked by the Chapel Hill Police to help in the investigation to know if religion was a motive in the killings.
Barakat was a dentistry student at UNC-Chapel Hill while his wife was accepted into the North Carolina State's dentistry program after graduating from NC State. Her sister, Razan, was a sophomore in the College of Design at NC State. Barakat and Abu-Salha got married in January.
Barakat's sister, Razan, said they were "shocked that there would be anyone plagued with so much hate in their heart to execute three living human beings."
According to Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall, North Carolina does not have the same hate crime statutes as the federal government, WNCN said.
