Man convicted of attempted murder in shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont

WASHINGTON: A man was convicted by a jury of attempted murder in the late 2023 shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont, two of whom were wounded and one was left paralysed from the waist down, prosecutors said on Monday.

Jason Eaton was found guilty on three counts of attempted second-degree murder for the shootings of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid on Nov 25, 2023, in Burlington, Vermont, prosecutor Sarah George, the Chittenden County state's attorney, said in a statement.

The conviction rejected Eaton's insanity defence and he will be sentenced at a later time, George said. A jury trial commenced in the Chittenden Superior Court a week ago and lasted until Monday.

Eaton faces a sentence of up to life without parole, with a presumptive minimum term of 20 years to serve on each count, George said.

The three Palestinian American students, who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were walking in Burlington when Eaton approached and shot them, prosecutors and police said.

Awartani was paralysed from the chest down and now lives with paraplegia, his family said. Aliahmad was struck in the chest and Abdalhamid was struck in the glute while running away, according to prosecutors. Aliahmad and Abdalhamid were visiting Awartani's grandmother over a Thanksgiving break from school.

All three were 20 at the time and wore black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves while conversing in a mix of English and Arabic when the gunman confronted them, prosecutors said. Their families said on Monday justice "has been rendered" and that they feel relief.

Though Eaton pleaded not guilty, he did not dispute being the shooter. His legal team said he should not be found guilty due to insanity, referring to his claims that US and Israeli intelligence ordered him to carry out the shooting through radio and that God asked him to protect Jewish neighbours.

US rights advocates have noted rising anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish bias since the start of US ally Israel's devastating assault on Gaza following a deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Some fatal incidents that have sparked alarm include a 2023 deadly stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American child in Illinois, whose killer was sentenced to 53 years in prison and died in custody, and a 2026 San Diego mosque shooting that left five dead, including two teenage suspects.