This editor’s note has been corrected to accurately state the academic affiliations of the slain students.
On February 10, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha was in her apartment in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband, Deah Shaddy Barakat, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, when a man came in and shot the three of them, execution-style. The newlywed couple was in their early 20s; Razan Abu-Salha was 19. Barakat was a student at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, where his wife, Yusor, was recently accepted for admission. Razan Abu-Salha attended North Carolina State University. Neighbor Craig Hicks was subsequently charged with the murders.
Law enforcement officials said that Hicks’s actions stemmed from a parking dispute; Barakat’s father and many others called it a hate crime motivated by the murderer’s contempt for either his targets’ Islamic faith, or against Muslims, period.
Family and friends of Barakat and the Abu-Salbas gathered on the university grounds on February 11 for a candlelight vigil to commemorate their lives; they were joined by thousands from among the university and Muslim communities. Jenny Warburg chronicled the outpouring.
–The Editors
