Man Charged With Chapel Hill Killings in Court Today

By Carla Murphy Apr 06, 2015

Less than an hour after killing three Muslim-American family members in their Chapel Hill apartment complex, he says, 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks turned himself into police. Hicks will be in court today for a hearing to determine whether he could face the death penalty. In February, Hicks fatally shot three students, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Police reports contend that the unprovoked triple homicide was over a parking dispute, which the victims’ families strongly dispute. They say their children were killed because they are Muslim.

If convicted of first-degree murder, the prosecutor has said in court documents that he intends to seek the death penalty.

(h/t AP)