Suspect arrested after three Palestinian students shot in Vermont

A suspect has been arrested after three Palestinian students were shot on Saturday night in the US state of Vermont in a suspected hate-motivated crime. 

CNN reported that Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested on Sunday afternoon. 

Three Palestinian students, wearing keffiyehs and speaking in Arabic, were en route to dinner when they were shot by an unidentified gunman in Burlington over the weekend. 

The three 2o-year-old students, identified as Tahseen Ahmed of Trinity College, Connecticut, Kinnan Abdel Hamid of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Hisham Awartani of Brown University, Rhode Island, are graduates of the Ramallah Friends School in the Occupied West Bank.

"In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime," Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a statement.

"That there is an indication that this shooting could have been motivated by hate is chilling, and this possibility is being prioritised [by police]", said Miro Weinberger, mayor of Burlington.

All three remained under medical care on Sunday, two with gunshot wounds in their torsos and one shot in the lower extremities. "Two are stable, while one has sustained much more serious injuries," police said.