Federal authorities should be delving into the killings of three Muslims students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to see if the slayings were motivated by their religion, Nezar Hamze, regional operations director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida, said Thursday on
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
"His hate manifested into the murder of three people," Hamze said of the suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46.
Hicks is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of a newlywed couple, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21; and her sister, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
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Police have said that a preliminary investigation indicates there was a
dispute over parking. Hicks' Facebook profile picture reads "Atheists for Equality."
"In the Muslim community, when we have an extremist, the FBI does a very thorough job. They will investigate people, use informants, arrest that person and take them off the street because they're involved in criminal activity.
"In this particular case, the FBI didn't get involved when we had an extremist. The same resources that are being put into the Muslim community are not being put outside of the Muslim community."
Hamze justified his characterization of Hicks as an "extremist" by saying that "for someone to take their gun out and execute three people is absolutely a sign of extremism and extreme thought."
"We see the same thing in the Muslim community when we have an extremist," Hamze said. "They're kicked out.
"This is an opportunity for law enforcement to learn because when an extremist is identified, there needs to be a new set of rules on how that individual is dealt with."
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