Question of Motive Remains in Chapel Hill Shooting of Muslim Students

Questions continue to swirl regarding the motive in a recent Chapel Hill, North Carolina shooting that left three young Muslim students dead.

Media reports originally indicated that North Carolina State University students Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Deah Shaddy Barakat were shot by neighbor Craig Stephen Hicks last month over a parking spot dispute.

Hicks' wife said at a press conference after the shooting that her husband had been involved in an ongoing tiff regarding the apartment complex's parking regulations with his neighbors.

Others suggested that Hicks' murder of the three students was religiously-motivated, as the 46-year-old had reportedly posted atheist-themed messages on his Facebook page.

Hicks's lawyer, Robert N. Maitland II, recently told the New York Times that although he acknowledges the theory of the parking spot dispute, he admits that there remains no motive as to why his client decided to attack the three students on that particular day.

"Here's the thing: Nobody knows," he said. "Why did he lose it that particular day?"

According to the University Herald, Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols has announced that he will be pursing the death penalty for Hicks in an effort to prove that the suspect's actions constitute a hate crime.

Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salh, father of the two sisters who were killed, recently told WNCN that he is not after revenge for Hicks, but believes the suspect committed a hate crime when he killed his two daughters.

"I'm not after revenge or punishment at all, but after protecting all the children who look unique and different," has said.