Jury convicts Vermont man of attempted murder in shooting of three Palestinian students

A Burlington jury convicted Jason Eaton, 51, of three counts of attempted second-degree murder on Monday for shooting three Palestinian college students near the University of Vermont campus in November 2023.

Eaton did not dispute that he was the shooter. His lawyers argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity, citing his claims that the CIA and Mossad transmitted orders to him through FM radio and that God commanded him to protect his Jewish neighbors. The jury rejected that defense after several hours of deliberation following a weeklong trial.

Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid — all 20 at the time and friends from Ramallah — were walking home from a birthday outing when Eaton approached them with a handgun and opened fire. Awartani was shot in the chest and is paralyzed from the waist down. Aliahmad was struck in the collarbone; Abdalhamid in the right buttock.

No hate crime charges were filed. Eaton faces up to life in prison. Sentencing has not been scheduled.