Hisham Awartani, one of three Palestinian college students who was shot while walking in Vermont last month, has been left paralyzed after a bullet became lodged in his spine, his family says.
The shocking incident
Awartani and two of his longtime friends, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed, were visiting one of the men’s relatives at a home in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday when a gunman confronted them ‘without speaking’ and fired at least four shots at the group, local police previously said.
At a press conference following the shooting, Burlington police said that the men, all of whom are 20 years old, were speaking a mixture of English and Arabic at the time of the attack.
Two of three men were also wearing black and white Palestinian scarves known as keffiyehs.
He has been left paralyzed
Police said Abdalhamid and Ahmed were expected to recover after being wounded by the bullets while Awartani suffered a serious spinal injury.
Now, Awartani’s family has created a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the costs associated with his recovery.
‘Hisham’s first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away,’ his loved ones wrote on the fundraiser.
‘He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude – even a sense of humor – even as the reality of his paralysis sets in.’
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In a Wednesday update, the family wrote on the GoFundMe page that Awartani was released from the hospital and is now on his way to his spinal injury rehabilitation center.
The suspect, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested on Nov. 26 after members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who were canvassing the Burlington area knocked on his front door, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad previously said at a press conference.
Eaton has been charged with three counts of attempted murder. According to the Associated Press, Eaton has pleaded not guilty.
It’s unclear if he has retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and other authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.
