The man accused of shooting and killing three Muslim students last week was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder by a grand jury Monday.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shot his neighbors — Deah Shaddy Barakat, wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha — over what the suspect’s now estranged wife and police believe was a parking spot dispute in Chapel Hill, NC.
Hicks was also charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.
Authorities have yet to label the mass shooting a hate crime — all three victims in the shooting were Muslim.
Hicks described himself as a “gun-totin’ atheist” on his social media platforms, posting photographs of guns, knives, and anti-religion rhetoric. His wife, Karen, maintains religion had little to do with the shooting:
“I can say with absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion of the victims’ faith, but it was related to a longstanding parking dispute that my husband had with the neighbors,” Karen Hicks said.
She said her husband of seven years treated people with respect. “He often champions on his Facebook page for the rights of individuals. … He believes everyone is equal – doesn’t matter what you look like or who you are or what you believe.”
Shortly after that statement, she announced she was divorcing him. Family members of the students say Hicks often threatened the victims.
Investigators have not yet ruled out religious bias or other possible motives in the shooting.
SOURCE: CBS | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.
