Search Warrants Reveal Evidence in UNC Triple Murder
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CHARLOTTE, NC — Search warrants released Friday reveal new details in the murders of three Muslim college students in Chapel Hill. The questions surrounding why Craig Hicks would kill the husband, wife and her sister are hitting home in Charlotte.
“They did not deserve that kind of ending,” said Mohammed el-Nawawy, Ph. D. “They were role models for their classmates, their friends and colleagues.”
El-Nawawy is a Queens University Scholar and Charlotte Muslim community leader. He learned Friday with the rest of the state that police seized four handguns, six rifles, two shot guns and pellet guns from inside Hick’s apartment. They also took two computers, three phones and a camera.
El-Nawawy doesn’t believe Hicks killed the students over a parking spot, but rather, because of their Muslim faith. Hicks was open about his hatred for other religions online.
“The framing on most media outlets that this was a dispute over a parking spot, and this is beyond ridiculous,” said el-Nawawy. “I think it’s an insult to the intelligence of the general public.”
Another warrant says a woman flagged down police Tuesday night and directed them to Deah Barakat and Yusor Abu Salha’s apartment. Inside, police say they found the husband and wife dead as well as the wife’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha. Police say they found eight bullet casings in the apartment.
Investigators initially connected the shooting to a parking dispute because of Hicks’s history with people who parked in his spot. Christopher Lafreniere worked for the towing company that serviced the complex. He says Hicks was the main tenant calling about parking issues.
“Maybe one or two other people, but out of the whole apartment complex, it was mainly him,” said Lafreniere. He says Hicks called so many times the company eventually banned him from calling.
“Indications show very obviously that this was a hate crime, and that the perpetrator was motivated by his prejudice against religion in in general and against Islam in particular,” said el-Nawawy.
Hicks’s three murder charges could go before a Durham county grand jury Monday.
