U.S.
Thousands of people across Europe joined rallies paying tribute to the victims of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — On Wednesday night, the heart of the University of North Carolina campus turned into a place of mourning, as an estimated 1,500 people gathered to remember the lives of three young Muslim students killed on Tuesday afternoon.
Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, was shot dead in her Chapel Hill apartment, along with her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, and her husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23. Their alleged killer, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, has turned himself in to authorities and been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
The crowd on Wednesday night, comprising university students from the area and other Chapel Hill residents, stood in silence as they lit candles and waited to hear Farris Barakat, Deah Barakat’s older brother, respond to fears in the community that the killings were motivated by hatred for Muslims.
“I’ve had people try to apologize for this act, but believe me — as a Muslim, I know one act can’t define a mass,” Farris Barakat said.
He cautioned against retribution. “Do not fight fire with fire,” he said in measured tones. “Do not let ignorance propagate in your life. Do not meet ignorance with ignorance.”
Aya Zouhri, 22, went to remember her friend Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, whom knew since third grade. They shared “best friends forever” necklaces and promised to be neighbors and go to each other’s weddings, Zouhri said. “I just remembered that attending each other’s funeral was not on that list.”
The close-knit Muslim community in the Triangle, the metropolitan area formed by the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, is unsettled in the aftermath of Tuesday’s killings. Authorities investigating the incident say that they have not yet determined whether religious hatred motivated the shooter, but it has sparked widespread unease and fear in the community.
“I’ve never been, as an American Muslim, threatened,” said Salma Rezk, 21, a senior at UNC and a friend of the victims. “What happened yesterday — I’ve never felt that way before. I felt scared, and it was the first time I felt scared. This morning when I was leaving my house, my mom just looked at me before I left. The idea that someone would leave home and they might not come back … that it literally could have happened to any of us because we stand out and are different.”
Amal Kafi agreed. Her mother was worried for her safety and asked what time she would be home from school. “Mom,” she said, “I can’t stay home. I have to go out and do more. I have to be a better person.”
“I just don’t want this to be a situation where people start getting scared and not want to put themselves out there,” she added.
Sumer Kanawati, another friend and UNC classmate, admitted to feeling enough fear Wednesday morning to wear her headscarf a little differently. “If it happened to them,” she said, “it could happen to me.”
Barakat, his wife and and her sister were known for their community service. They organized relief efforts for Syrian refugees in Turkey and helped develop a local chapter of United Muslim Relief. “They were the golden hearts of the community,” Kanawati said. “Everybody looked up to them. I’m not saying they were nice because it’s nice to say. They just embodied kindness and love.”
At the memorial on Wednesday evening, pictures of the victims played in a slideshow on a screen near the stage. Shamira Lukomwa, president of the UNC-Chapel Hill Muslim Student Association, gave a speech in which she quoted from the Quran. “Truly we are from God, and to him we will return,” she said.
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