White House Says FBI Has Opened Inquiry into ‘Brutal and Outrageous’ UNC Shooting

Muhammed Bilal Kenasari/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The White House released a statement on Friday regarding the fatal shooting of three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus on Tuesday, noting that an FBI inquiry has been opened in connection with the “brutal and outrageous murders.”

“In addition to the ongoing investigation by local authorities, the FBI is taking steps to determine whether federal laws were violated,” the White House said. That investigation is expected to include whether hate crime laws were broken.

“No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship,” the statement released on the president’s behalf read. “Michelle and I offer our condolences to the victims’ loved ones.”

Obama quoted one of the victims, Yusor Mohammad, 21, saying that in America “it doesn’t matter where you come from…there’s so many different people from so many different places, of different backgrounds and religions — but here, we’re all one.” Also killed in the shooting were Mohammad’s husband Deah Barakat, 23, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.

Yuson had recently graduated from North Carolina State University and Razan was a sophomore at the same school, while Deah Barakat was a dental student at the University of North Carolina.

Obama is in California for a White House summit on cybersecurity.

Attorney General Eric Holder said that “like all Americans, I was shocked and saddened by this week’s heinous murders of three young people in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.”

“In addition to the ongoing local investigation, I have made available the full resources of the Department of Justice to help ensure that justice will be served in this case,” Holder said in a statement. “The Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina, have opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether any federal laws, including hate crime laws, were violated.”

Also on Friday, Jordanian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Alia Bouran traveled to North Carolina to meet with the families of the three victims. On Thursday, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming that both Mohammad sisters had held dual citizenship in the United States and Jordan.

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