More than 100 people braved a chilly wind in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park on Thursday night to try to light a candle for the three Muslim students killed in North Carolina.
The wind extinguished most flames, but spectators spoke with conviction at the vigil that people should be able to practice their faith without fear in the United States.
“I hear a lot of Islamaphobia on the radio and TV, but I never felt I was unsafe,” said Hina Mahmood, whose hijab covered her head. “I never imagined that out in the daylight that somebody could come and shoot at you because of your religion.
“It shouldn’t happen in this country.”
Mahmood, 45, of Alpharetta, and others said they came out to show solidarity — Christians, Jews and other faiths showed up in support — and to make a statement against what appeared to be anti-Muslim violence. The killings happened at end of the work day Tuesday near the University of North Carolina. When the Chapel Hill police arrived, they found three Muslim university students dead, a newlywed couple and the woman’s sister.
The dead: Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, of Chapel Hill; Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, of Chapel Hill, was arrested and is being held without bond in the Durham County jail.
Family members of the victims described the attack as a hate crime, although police have cautioned it may have been a neighborhood dispute over parking but said they were not excluding religious bias as a motive.
“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,” said Chief Chris Blue of the Chapel Hill Police Department in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these young people who lost their lives so needlessly.”
Some people who were gathered at the park, itself the site of the 1996 Olympic bombing viewed by many as motivated by hate, feared the North Carolina attack might portend more violence in this county.
Faraz Ahmad, a Georgia State University student, said he had North Carolina friends who were grieving because they knew the victims killed at Chapel Hill. The killings have shattered a sense of security, he said.
“It is really sad and frightening to think that could happen to any one of us,” he said. “When I think about my sister and my dad and if something like this could happen to them, I just can’t imagine.”
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