Vermont man convicted of attempted murder in shooting of three Palestinian students

A Vermont jury has convicted 51-year-old Jason Eaton of attempted murder for the November 2023 shooting of three Palestinian college students, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, in Burlington. The jury rejected Eaton's insanity defense, which claimed he acted on radio-transmitted orders from intelligence agencies. The attack left Awartani paralyzed and the others wounded. No hate crime charges were filed despite the shooting occurring weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Vermont shooting conviction

• ▪Jason Eaton faces up to life in prison for the attempted murder conviction and was ordered jailed pending his sentencing
• ▪A Vermont jury on September 21, 2026, convicted 51-year-old Jason Eaton of attempted murder for the November 2023 shooting of three Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vermont
• ▪The jury in the trial of Jason Eaton for the November 2023 shooting of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid in Burlington, Vermont reached its verdict on September 21, 2026, after deliberating for several hours following a weeklong trial

Insanity defense rejection

• ▪The jury rejected Jason Eaton's insanity defense, which claimed he acted on orders from the CIA, Mossad, and God transmitted via FM radio
• ▪Defense lawyers argued Jason Eaton suffered from a delusional, psychotic disorder triggered after losing his job at a credit union two weeks before the November 2023 shooting of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid in Burlington, Vermont
• ▪Prosecutor Sally Adams stated that authorities found three shotguns and a Ruger .380-caliber handgun, which crime lab testing matched to the November 2023 shooting of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid in Burlington, Vermont, in Jason Eaton's apartment

Hate crime investigation debate

• ▪Questions persisted over whether anti-Palestinian animus or an altered mental state compelled Jason Eaton to shoot the three students
• ▪Although the November 2023 shooting of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid in Burlington, Vermont prompted calls for a hate crime investigation, prosecutors did not file hate crime charges against Jason Eaton

Victims' injuries

• ▪The November 2023 shooting near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington wounded Tahseen Aliahmad, who was struck in the collarbone, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who was shot in the right buttock
• ▪The November 2023 shooting near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down due to a bullet that ricocheted off his scapula into his spinal cord

Palestinian students' backgrounds

• ▪At the time of the November 2023 shooting near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Hisham Awartani attended Brown University, Tahseen Aliahmad attended Trinity College, and Kinnan Abdalhamid attended Haverford College
• ▪The three victims, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, grew up in Ramallah in the West Bank and attended school together before moving to the United States