Indiana Governor Silent as Police Rule Out Hate Crime in ‘Execution-Style’ Killing of Three African Men

By Sameer Rao Feb 29, 2016

Indiana governor Mike Pence remains silent about the unfolding case of three young men who were killed in what authorities are calling an "execution-style" shooting in Fort Wayne last week.

A Fort Wayne Police Department spokesman told CNN today (February 29) that officers have ruled out hate crime in the deaths of 17-year-old Muhannad Adam Tairab, 20-year-old Adam Kamel Mekki and 23-year-old Mohamedtaha Omar. On Wednesday (February 24), the young men were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in a Fort Wayne house that ABC 21 reports was used by "teens and young adults from families of African descent, particularly from the nations of Chad and Sudan." CNN reported that two of the young men were Muslim, one was Christian, and all three were U.S. citizens. "We are still trying to determine a motive or suspects, but we have ruled out hate crime," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, recent reports have stoked claims about the possible Islamophobic and racist nature of the killings.

ThinkProgress commented on governor Pence’s silence about the murders, noting that he offered public condolences to the victims of the Paris attacks and the Roanoke, Virginia shootings. Investigators are still searching a motive for the grizzly Fort Wayne killings.

(H/t CNN, ABC 21, Vox, ThinkProgress