Minnesota students mourn loss of North Carolina shooting victims
About 150 University of Minnesota students and community members braved sub-zero winds Wednesday night to mourn the loss of three North Carolina Muslim students killed earlier this week.
Al-Madinah Cultural Center, like many other campus organizations across the country, organized a candlelight vigil. Students outside the U's Coffman Union in Minneapolis said they wanted to recognize the lives lost.
"There is a lot of almost controversy and discussion that goes along with these (incidents)," Ahmed Siddiqui, a student and member of the center, said. "The vigil is really to pay respect to the victims, make sure what happens to them is recognized as a tragedy and not just turn into a conversation or discussion."
Some students got teary-eyed as they talked about their concerns about practicing their Muslim faith in the U.S. through public prayer and wearing religiously observant clothing.
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Meanwhile, police in North Carolina are trying to determine whether hate played any role in the killing of the three students.
Deah Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor, 21, who attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Yusor's sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were shot at their residence in Chapel Hill.
Their neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, was charged with first-degree murder. Police say the shooting appears to have stemmed from Hicks' anger over parking and noise at the condominium complex.
The triple homicide has sparked a debate over whether the victims were targeted because of their Islamic beliefs. The hashtags #muslimlivesmatter and #ChapelHillShooting were trending on social media Wednesday.
"We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated, and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case," Chapel Hill police Chief Chris Blue said in an email to The Associated Press.
Chapel Hill police asked the FBI for help in their probe, and Ripley Rand, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, said his office was monitoring the investigation. But Rand said the crime "appears at this point to have been an isolated incident."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.