What is murder in chapel hill nc?

In February 2015, three Muslim students, Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha, were murdered in their apartment in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The perpetrator, Craig Hicks, was a neighbor who had reportedly had ongoing disputes with the victims over parking spaces.

The killings drew national and international attention, and many members of the Muslim community viewed them as a hate crime. However, the initial investigation suggested that Hicks was motivated by a dispute over parking and a longstanding grudge, rather than the victims’ religion or ethnicity.

Hicks was eventually charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and in 2019, he pled guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The Chapel Hill shootings highlighted ongoing concerns over hate crimes and Islamophobia in the United States, and led to calls for greater recognition of these issues and efforts to combat them.