Thousands mourn Chapel Hill shooting victims

THOUSANDS of mourners have gathered for the funeral of three Muslim students killed in North Carolina.

The father of two of the victims told the crowd they were victims of a hate crime and his pain was indescribable.

His daughters and son-in-law were shot dead at their home in Chapel Hill, and their neighbour charged with murder.

Police say initial indications suggest there was a parking space dispute but they are investigating whether Craig Hicks was motivated by religious hate.

Hicks gave himself up to police and has been charged with killing Deah Shaddy Barakat, wife Yusor Mohammad and her sister Razan.

The BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan said many mourners feel the murders were sparked by something far deeper than a parking row.

Chapel Hill police chief, Chris Blue, spoke at the service and promised his officers would investigate every lead, including the possibility of hate crime, our correspondent adds.

After a private ceremony with family members in Raleigh, the funeral was held at the athletic fields of North Carolina State University where all three had been a student. Police estimated 5,500 people were in attendance.

At the service’s end, about a dozen people carried each to hearses, which headed to an Islamic cemetery outside Raleigh.

“It was the biggest funeral I’ve ever been to,” said Nisrin Shabin. “They kept coming, it was magical.”

Home to a number of university campuses, as well as tech and science companies in the so called “research triangle”, people say it’s a tolerant and open minded place. Which makes these murders all the more shocking.

Deah and Yusor and Razan have been described to me as smart, popular, fun students who worked hard and enjoyed sport. Above all, people remember them as kind, supportive and selfless. That they could provoke so much anger in a mere parking dispute – enough to cut their short lives short – is utterly inexplicable to people.

This is a hate crime, people told me time and time again – the victims’ religion can’t be divorced from the context of the crime, they said.

Sarah, who grew up with all three and says she’s experienced Islamophobia, articulated a view many shared: “You have to have a lot of hate in your heart to kill three people in cold blood, and over a parking spot, it’s ridiculous to say this was just that”.