A jury in the US state of Vermont has convicted 51-year-old Jason Eaton of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian university students near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington in November 2023, The Guardian reported.
Eaton faces up to life in prison following the conviction.
The gun attack left Hisham Awartani paralysed from the waist down and wounded his close friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.
The jury returned its guilty verdict after several hours of deliberation following a week-long trial that heard direct testimony from all three victims alongside competing psychiatric experts.
Eaton, who did not dispute firing the shots, had pleaded not guilty, claiming he was not criminally responsible due to his mental state.
Defence lawyers highlighted his claims that US and Israeli intelligence agencies transmitted instructions to shoot via FM radio, alongside delusions that God commanded him to protect neighbours.
The jury dismissed the insanity defence.
Sentencing remand
Eaton was remanded in custody without bail pending sentencing, showing no emotion as the verdict was announced.
Awartani and Aliahmad, seated in the courtroom's front row, embraced supporters.
"Justice has been rendered for Hisham, Kinnan and Tahseen. After three years of sorrow, loss and struggle, our families finally feel relief," the families affirmed in a joint statement.
They stressed the outcome "affirms something fundamental: Jason Eaton is responsible for what he did", pointing out that Eaton's repeated use of "hateful" language during the trial confirmed his motives: "This was a hate crime. We have said so from the beginning."
The families also drew parallels to the broader plight of their people: "While our children fought to heal from being shot in Burlington, they watched Palestinian children lose their lives, their homes, their land, their families."
"Hisham, Kinnan and Tahseen have spent three years rebuilding their bodies and their lives after a hateful act almost killed them. We are profoundly relieved."
