CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Police in Chapel Hill, N.C., said three Muslim students were shot over a parking dispute, though the father of two of the victims has called the incident a hate crime.
Police arrested Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, after he allegedly shot to death three students at a condominium complex near the University of North Carolina on Tuesday.
The victims were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Barakat was a graduate dental student at the University of North Carolina, where his wife planned to enroll in the fall. Razan attended North Carolina State University.
Police said the incident stemmed from a parking dispute between Hicks and the three students.
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"Our preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking," the police said in a statement.
"We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated," Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said in a statement, "and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case."
The FBI is assisting local law enforcement with the investigation.
Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of Yusor and Razan, said he believed Hicks killed his daughters and son-in-law because they were Muslim.
"It was execution style, a bullet in every head," Abu-Salha said Wednesday. "This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far."
Hicks has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He was being held in Durham County jail without bail.
