The man accused of opening fire on three Palestinian college students out of his pickup truck window last November is now demanding new legal representation.
Jason Eaton, 48, was arrested shortly after police say he shot Tasheen Ahmed, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Hisham Awartani, all 20, on Nov. 25 of last year. The three students were visting Burlington, Vermont, for Thanksgiving break when they were shot. At the time of the shooting, they were speaking Arabic and two of them were wearing keffiyehs, or traditional Palestinian scarves, according to Burlington police.
Ahmed and Abdalhamid were treated and released from the hospital shortly after the shooting, but Awartani suffered more serious injuries and was left paralyzed from the waist down, according to a GoFundMe set up on to fund his recovery, which as of March had raised $1.6 million.
Four months after his last court appearance, Eaton is now demanding a new attorney, according to WCAX3, adding that the request was made due to disagreements over his defense strategy.
Currently, Eaton's alleged attack is not being investigated as a hate crime, however calls across the nation have been made for law enforcement to do so in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, which started less than two months before the shooting.
Vermont prosecutors previously admitted they had few answers when it comes to a motive.
"Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear that there's no question this was a hateful act," Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George said following Eaton's arrest, according to WCAX3.
