Police haven't said what may have compelled the accused, Craig Stephen Hicks, to allegedly carry out the attack Tuesday evening. He turned himself in to police later in the night.

But given the victims' religion and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims' faith played.

The victims were Muslims: Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; Yusor Mohammad, 21; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Barakat was Mohammad's husband; Abu-Salha was her sister, the school said.

Barakat was a second-year student at the UNC School of Dentistry, who was raising money on a fundraising site to provide dental care to Syrian refugees in Turkey.

He had been married for just over a month to Yusor Mohammad, who was planning to begin her dental studies at UNC in the fall, according to the school.

Abu-Salha was a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

All three had been shot in the head, sources told CNN affiliate WRAL.

This is a crime. Also, it's a crime that is possibly motivated by religious hatred. We don't know yet.

Regardless, we can expect that he will be indicted by a Christian prosecutor, found guilty by a Christian jury, and sentenced by a Christian judge. In the U.S. and the rest of the infidel West, a Christian murdering members of a Muslim minority will be dealt with swiftly by the law. In the Islamic world, a Muslim can rape or murder a member of a Christian minority with impunity and the law will not act specifically because the life of a Christian is not worth the same as that of a Muslim.

From CNN this morning:

In one post widely shared online, Hicks, who claimed he is an atheist, allegedly wrote: "When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I."

hmmmm . . . ?

Faux News spinning . . .

Shaitaan 'deflecting' as per weasel norm. . . red herrings fast & furious

Redux...."trolling" as per your norm....twisting and quote mining

the public record in the age of the internet is y'all worst nightmare

if what it takes is "quote mining," "trolling," etc., to do the job, as long as i don't lie, it's all good

Parking spat linked to N.C. killing of 3 Muslim students

Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 10:31 a.m. EST February 11, 2015

(Photo: Our Three Winners/Facebook)

An ongoing dispute over an apartment parking space may have led to the shooting deaths of three Muslim college students in North Carolina, but investigators are trying to determine if the killings could also have been hate-motivated, police said Wednesday.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself in to the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings Tuesday afternoon at an apartment building in Chapel Hill.

USA TODAY

Outrage surges over Muslim students murders

The victims, all shot in the head, were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, police said. The two female victims were sisters.

Friends posted a Facebook page in their honor on Wednesday.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, shown in a booking photo was arrested in connection with the shooting of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, N.C. , Feb.10. 2015. (Photo: Durham County Sheriff's office)

It was not immediately clear if the religion of the victims was a factor in the shootings.

Police said an ongoing dispute over a parking space may have led to the killings, but that investigators were looking into the reasons behind the "senseless and tragic act."

"We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case," Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these young people who lost their lives so needlessly."

Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council of American Islamic Relations, called on authorities Wednesday to determine as quickly as possible whether religion was a factor in the killings.

"Based on the brutal nature of this crime, the past anti-religion statements of the alleged perpetrator, the religious attire of two of the victims, and the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in American society, we urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to quickly address speculation of a possible bias motive in this case," Awad said in a statement.

The killings triggered an outcry overnight on Twitter -- under the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter -- by those who feel the victims were marked by their religion.

The triple-murder in this quiet college town shocked friends and neighbors.

"It's a very quiet community," resident Bethany Boring told WRAL-TV. "It's a lot of graduate and professional students. You know, professional families."

Barakat, a second-year dental student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Yusor Mohammad were married in late December. They traveled to Turkey last year to provide free dental care to students, according to their friends' Facebook page.

Contributing: Associated Press

sad

what the heck wrong with you American 

Guyana looks good. In Guyana they kill for money, in America they kill for nothing-- non Christian.

Chapel Hill shooting deaths motivated by neighbour dispute over parking, police say

Michael Biesecker, Associated Press | February 11, 2015 10:55 AM ET, Source - National Post

This image provided by the Durham County Sheriff's Office shows a booking photo of Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who was arrested on three counts of murder early Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. He is being held at the Durham County Jail. Police were responding to a report of gunshots around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday when they found three people who were pronounced dead at the scene.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — An ongoing parking dispute between neighbours sparked the shooting deaths of three family members at a quiet condominium complex near the University of North Carolina campus, police said Wednesday.

 

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Tuesday shooting, Chapel Hill police said. He is being held at the Durham County Jail and was expected to make a first court appearance Wednesday morning.

 

Police say Hicks is co-operating, and that their preliminary investigation showed that the parking dispute was the motive.

 

The victims were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Barakat and Mohammad were married, and Abu-Salha was Mohammad’s sister, according to UNC.

 

AP Photo/The News & Observer, Al DragoIn this Tuesday,

Feb. 10, 2015 photo, Chapel Hill police officers investigate

the scene of three murders near Summerwalk Circle in

Chapel Hill, N.C.

 

Barakat was a second-year dental student there, and Yusor was scheduled to begin dental studies in the fall.

 

Both had graduated from North Carolina State University, school spokesman Mick Kulikowski said. Barakat graduated with a business administration degree in the spring of 2013. Mohammad graduated in December with a biological sciences degree.

 

Abu-Salha was a second-year design major who had started classes last fall, Kulikowski said.

 

The neighbourhood where they were found — immediately east of campus — consists mostly of apartments and condominiums rented by students. Neighbours there said Wednesday morning that never before seen police or had crime problems.

 

“It’s a very quiet community,” resident Bethany Boring told WRAL-TV. “It’s a lot of graduate and professional students. You know, professional families.”

sad three young people lives gone

for a parking spot.

https://twitter.com/ozchrisroc...t=565526766983577601

Rednecks Dogs are a DANGER to America!!!  Sad indeed!!!  I would not live in the South!!!

https://www.facebook.com/video...45001464&fref=nf

That's how the redneck family is spinning it. North Carolina is a redneck state. It's sad to see three young lives wiped off the face of the earth in a flash. I still believe it's a hate crime.

It took over 13 hours for the main stream media to cover it and only after social media started to lambast them. and even then it was only given a few mins.

https://twitter.com/ozchrisroc...561845332070400?s=04

boy what a different news day in America would it be if this is what the killer looked like #ChapelHillShooting

What parking spot.

There are many reasons why there could be a delay in the mainstream media getting a story. To simply speculate that it's because these victims were Muslim, the media deliberately withheld coverage on the story is simply ludicrous. I was working from home this morning and the TV was on CNN. The story was on their revolving list of stories being run every hour and it is still there so what nonsense are you talking about a few minutes. I checked news sites on the Internet such as Google News, CNN and even Faux News when I heard this ridiculous claim and the story was right at the top. If you were to check news sites right now it is still there. All the major newspapers websites have the story. There is blanket coverage on this story so stop your whining and lying.

A failed attempt to whip up the false narrative of murderous American Islamophobia against our poor innocent Muslim population.

Three people were killed over a parking spot. It's terrible. But it's routine rage murder. This wasn't a man driven by a political agenda, member of an extremist militant organization, bent on murdering Muslims to bring into reality Jesus' Caliphate. The fact that he killed three "Muslims" is the least relevant point of this whole story.

The murderer is an atheist. Atheists make anti-religious remarks all the time. To everyone. An atheist will go to a restaurant an order a table "for two atheists." I'm not sure atheism is a motivation for murder.

A roommate of the victims who lived in the condo stated that there was an ongoing parking dispute between the victims and the man who is accused of killing them. He came to their condo a few times to complain and he also complained to the property managers that they were not parking in their assigned spots. The wife of the accused also confirmed that there was a dispute between her husband and the victims. Not that I believe that they should be killed for illegally parking but this is what was reported. 

Sounds like these students just messed with the wrong dude.

Almost everyone who lives near a university knows just how awful students are to the local resident especially when it comes to parking and noise pollution.

The fact that this guy personally complained to them tells me he was most likely in the right and made a good faith effort to work it out. Then he went to their property manager after they blew him off. And then he lost it one day.

Lots of murders happen this way. Victims behave unreasonable in a social situation. Murderer flips out at their lack of reason and loses it.

Muslims, though not a race or tribe, must have a gene for lying. The human genome project should look into this.

Probably everyone in America and the whole world knows about this story for the sole reason that they are Muslims.

This is how special and protected you people are. If these were three black people, we wouldn't know about this. The media doesn't run headlines like "Three Black Christians Killed Over Parking Spot."

The bodies aren't even cold yet but you professional Muslim victims are already looking at ways to milk this for maximum political advantage.

I'm sure the usual choir of useful kuffar idiots will rub your shoulders and tell you how sorry they are that you Muslims must endure the modern day Holocaust that is America for Muslims.

Once again. There are many reasons why there could be a delay in the mainstream media getting a story. To simply speculate that it's because these victims were Muslim, the media deliberately withheld coverage on the story is simply ludicrous.

A parking dispute in Hicksville does not necessarily get media attention right away.

Actually the only reason why it is getting national coverage is because there are Muslim victims. If it was one crazy redneck killing three more over a parking spot, it might have never gone national. 

So you saying that the media is not bias against Muslims?

Here we go. Crazy Muslim conspiracy shyte. Where would our current events be without the biased media, the CIA, International Jews, and the Mossad?

The media is quite biased when in comes to Muslims. Biased in their favor. Which is why the American media censors Muhammad cartoons, South Park censored Muhammad, why "Islamophobia" is a word, and why we're talking about three Muslims who got shot because they couldn't stop parking in their neighbor's spot.

We would not be talking about any other people who got shot for something so remarkably stupid and trivial. Only Muslims.

To say that the media is biased against Muslims is simply being ignorant of what makes up the media and how they operate. The media is a broad representation of many different organizations with several different owners and agendas. Some no doubt have anti-Muslim biases, some are Muslim friendly and some are generally neutral. 

So how come when similar incidents happens and the Muslim is the perpetrator he is cslled a terrorist and when a non muslim is the perpetrator he is anything but a terrorist. And in the majority of cases the non muslim perpetrator is deemed to be a mental case before he is evaluated.

Because Muslim terrorists are Muslim terrorists. And criminals are criminals. And criminals who are mentally insane are criminals who are mentally insane.

Stop fishing for tales of Muslim victim hood. They are few.

The moral of this story is to not be wrang and strang and maybe some madman won't shoot you in your head for said wrang and strang behavior.

This is a parking dispute between neighbors gone bad. Seems a bit different to the contemporary standard definition of terrorism, don't you think?

Where is it reported that the victims were wrong and strong?

It is a pity the victims cant tell their side of the story

It seems from numerous news reports that the victims were parking in his spot despite numerous complaints over lengthy periods of time to them personally and to their property manager from the murderer.

Look, no one is saying one should get shot in the head for being an ass. I just think it's disingenuous when we all pretend that we don't understand that this dude was dealing with some jackasses who happened to be Muslims and he lost it one day when they finally parked in his spot one time too many.

I wouldn't shoot a person in the head over a parking spot, but I live in NYC...I understand his frustration.

They would have been able to if they didn't keep bothering and inciting the wrong man over his parking spot.

whaderaas . . . wha kind of sick manoeuvre is this?

are you so bereft and idle that u need to manufacture talking points out of absolutely nothing to ride . . .

The word is "maneuver." We're in America. Only pretentious stupid people feel the need to resort to the British spelling without some highly specific context. This wasn't one of them.

I trust this finds favour, inter alia, with my Most Brittanic interlocutor.