Senseless Deaths in Chapel Hill

Last week three young adults, a married couple and a sister of one of them were senselessly shot and killed in Chapel Hill North Carolina. The man who killed them was belligerent with neighbours and regularly started conflicts over parking. The police described the shootings as a parking dispute gone terribly wrong. This assessment has already been challenged because the three who died were Muslims and the dress of the women made it obvious that they were. The suggestion is that this was a hate crime and while parking may have been a trigger, no other people were shot and killed by the man. Word is that while the killer had angry exchanges with a number of the condo residents in his development he had also harassed members of this family for their dress.

Who knows what motivates some nut-bars, but Chapel Hill has been dealing with tension over the past few weeks at the University of North Carolina campus, where plans to allow the daily Muslim call to prayer from the chapel tower were quashed. There was a great outcry from some Christians including Franklin Graham, who encouraged people to stop donating to UNC unless the plan was dropped.

To the credit of the people of Chapel Hill, interfaith vigils have been held in support of the bereaved family and thousands of dollars have been raised for the funerals. But no amount of money brings back loved ones. By all accounts these three were bright young people, active in the community, and involved in charitable works. This is a huge loss.

Did you hear about this incident? What would the police and media response have been if it had been three white Christians shot by a brown-skinned Muslim? Any comments about this sad story?