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Students Mourn Loss of North Carolina Students, Reflect on Meaning for MSU
Dozens of people gathered at the Radiology building Wednesday evening for a vigil held in memory of three Muslim students killed in North Carolina.
23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were killed Tuesday evening outside of their home execution-style, with bullets in their heads, according to multiple news reports.
Deah, an avid fan of the NBA and the Golden State Warriors, was in his second year of dentistry school at the University of North Carolina. His wife also planned to enroll there in the fall. Razan was an undergraduate student at NC State University.The couple, Deah and Yusor, had gotten married less than two months ago.
Students of all faiths and ethnicities at MSU gathered to honor the memories of the lives lost, as well as share their stories on how they feel about the situation.
Laya Charara, a second year medical student, founded the Muslim Medical Students Group at the College of Human Medicine and organized the event.
“When I look at the photos of Razan and Yusor, I saw myself, my best friends, and my community,” She said “When I looked at Deah, I saw my own brother. This happened in Chapel Hill, NC. It could have easily happened in East Lansing.”
At this time the exact motivation of the killing, some news outlets characterizing the shooting as fueled by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking.
The father of Deah, as well as some students at MSU do not feel that this is the case.
“This crime was not about a parking dispute,” Charara said. “It was not mental illness. It was an act of terrorism and hate, and any dispute of that is a disrespect to the memories of these individuals.”
The next step for combatting this, said those at the vigil, is continuing to raise awareness and have open discussions about faith and religion.
The vigil ended with a moment of silence for those murdered.
“Hate has no religion, ethnicity, nor color,” Charara said. “It is up to us to condemn ideologies that propagate this type of evil.”
Source: statenews.com