Chapel Hill shooting: 3 killed in North Carolina

Chapel Hill police officers investigate the scene of three murders near Summerwalk Circle. Picture:

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Tuesday shooting, Chapel Hill police told local news outlets. He is being held at the Durham County Jail and was expected to make a first court appearance Wednesday morning.

About 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a report of gunshots. They found three people who were pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Barakat and Mohammad were married, and Abu-Salha was Mohammad’s sister, according to UNC.

Barakat was a second-year dental student there, and Yusor was scheduled to begin dental studies in the fall.

Both had graduated from North Carolina State University, school spokesman Mick Kulikowski said. Barakat graduated with a business administration degree in the spring of 2013. Mohammad graduated in December with a biological sciences degree.

Abu-Salha was a first-year design major who had started classes last fall, Kulikowski said.

The neighborhood where they were found consists mostly of rental apartments and condominiums.

“It’s a very quiet community,” resident Bethany Boring told WRAL-TV. “It’s a lot of graduate and professional students. You know, professional families.”

Police have not released a motive and said the investigation is continuing. A police spokesman did not immediately return telephone messages Wednesday. UNC said its chancellor would issue a message to campus later Wednesday but gave no other details.