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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Palestinian-American student shot in Vermont is paralyzed

Tahseen Aliahmad, who attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut, were expected to make a full recovery.

One of the three college students of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont last month is paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, the student’s family said.

Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old student at Brown University who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was walking with two friends near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on Nov. 25 when police say 48-year-old Jason EatonĀ shot them with a handgunĀ in a suspected hate crime. Eaton has pleaded not guilty.

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Tahseen Aliahmad, who attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut, were expected to make a full recovery.

But Awartani – whose grandmother the three 20-year-olds had been visiting over Thanksgiving break from school – received a much graver prognosis, according to a statement his family wrote for a fundraiser to offset his medical expenses.

“He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude – even a sense of humor – even as the reality of his paralysis sets in,” Awartani’s family wrote on their GoFundMe page, which had raised over $200,000 as of Sunday morning.

Awartani, who is Palestinian-Irish-American, according to the fundraiser, hopes to start his next semester of college on time despite his paralysis, the family’s note said.

The shooting came amid a surge in anti-Islamic,Ā anti-ArabĀ andĀ antisemitic incidentsĀ and threats reported around the United States since a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.

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Eaton has been charged with attempted murder and is being held without bond while authorities investigate whether the Vermont shooting was a hate crime.

The students were wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and conversing in a mix of English and Arabic when the gunman confronted them, according to charging documents filed in court.