BURLINGTON, Vt. — A judge has ruled that 49-year-old Jason Eaton, charged with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian heritage last year, is competent to stand trial. This determination came during a court hearing held on Tuesday, where the judge also granted the defense additional time to gather depositions.

Eaton is accused of shooting and seriously injuring Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad on November 25, 2023, in Burlington, while they were walking in the vicinity of the University of Vermont. According to authorities, all three students, who were 20 years old at the time of the incident, were engaged in conversation that blended English and Arabic when they were approached by Eaton. It has been reported that two of the students were wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves at the time of the shooting, and the attacker allegedly fired upon them without uttering a word.

In the wake of the shooting, there has been a noted rise in threats aimed at Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities across the United States, particularly since escalating tensions due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and has been detained without bail since his arrest at his Burlington residence. Families of the victims advocate for the incident to be classified as a hate crime; however, prosecutors have indicated that they lack sufficient evidence to support such a charge.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, Eaton’s attorney, Peggy Jansch, requested an extension for the deposition deadline, aiming for June 2025 instead of the previously set date of December 16. The judge, John Pacht, established a new date of May 31 for the depositions to be completed and scheduled a status hearing for early March.