Over $1M Raised For Brown University Student Shot In Vermont

PROVIDENCE, RI — More than $1 million has been raised for the recovery of a Brown University student of Palestinian descent who was one of three shot in Vermont last month, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.

One of the bullets that hit Hisham Awartani, 20, on Nov. 25 became lodged in his spine, his family said. The campaign aims to help cover costs associated with Awartani's lifetime of recovery and rehabilitation, as well as provide him "what he needs to enable him to change the world for the good."

"The family is committed to his recovery and remain hopeful, in spite of the grave prognosis," the GoFundMe said. "If our prayers are answered and Hisham is able to recover in a way that he does not need the full amount raised, the family will create a foundation committed to supporting the most vulnerable members of his community who have not benefited from the humanizing media attention that has given Hisham this opportunity for recovery."

The victims — Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad — are childhood friends who graduated from a private Quaker school in the West Bank and attend colleges in the eastern United States. Ahmed, 20, is a student at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Abdalhamid, 20, attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

The students, all of Palestinian descent, were visiting Awartani's relatives in Burlington for the Thanksgiving break. They were walking to the house of Hisham's grandmother for dinner when they were shot in an unprovoked attack, the family said.

All three were seriously injured. Abdalhamid was released from the hospital last week.

"Hisham’s first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away. He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude — even a sense of humor — even as the reality of his paralysis sets in," the fundraising page states.

The young men were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said. Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.

"In a cruelly ironic twist, Hisham’s parents had recommended he not return home over winter break, suggesting he would be safer in the US with his grandmother," the GoFundMe states. "Burlington is a second home to Hisham, who has spent summers and happy holidays with his family there. It breaks our hearts that these young men did not find safety in his home away from home."

The suspected gunman, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested the following day at his Burlington apartment, where he answered the door with his hands raised and told federal agents he had been waiting for them. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail.

The shooting came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. in the weeks since the the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.