One of the three college students of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont last month is now paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine. Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old student at Brown University, was walking with his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on November 25th when they were shot by 48-year-old Jason Eaton. Eaton has been charged with attempted murder and is being held without bond as authorities investigate whether the shooting was a hate crime.

According to his family, Awartani received a much graver prognosis than his friends and is now paralyzed from the chest down. Despite this, he has shown remarkable courage and resilience, even maintaining a sense of humor. His family wrote a statement on a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his medical expenses. As of Sunday morning, the page had raised over $200,000. Awartani, who is Palestinian-Irish-American, hopes to start his next semester of college on time despite his paralysis.

The shooting occurred amidst a surge in anti-Islamic, anti-Arab, and antisemitic incidents and threats reported across the United States since the conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7th. The three students were wearing black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and were conversing in a mix of English and Arabic when the gunman confronted them, according to charging documents filed in court.

Kinnan Abdalhamid, one of the victims, recently appeared on ABC's The View to share his experience. He described the attack as “surreal” and likened it to a living nightmare. Abdalhamid explained that he and his friends were walking down a sidewalk in Burlington when they noticed a man standing on the porch of his house. Without warning, the man ran down the porch stairs, pulled out a pistol, and started shooting. Tahseen Aliahmad was shot first, followed by Hisham Awartani. Abdalhamid, who was not wearing a keffiyeh that day, managed to escape by jumping a fence and hiding in a neighbor's backyard.

Abdalhamid believes that Eaton was specifically aiming to kill them and that he was shot while trying to flee. He only realized he had been hit when he knocked on a neighbor's door to call the police. Abdalhamid's family had sent him to study in the US, believing it would be safer for him than in the West Bank. However, this incident has left them feeling frightened and traumatized.

Eaton, who previously had a shotgun confiscated by police in 2013 due to a domestic violence accusation, has struggled with depression in the past. His mother expressed shock and disbelief at the incident, describing her son as kind and loving. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing as authorities determine whether it was motivated by hate.