by Guy Page
A gofundme page has raised $1.37 million for recovery and rehabilitation costs for Hisham Awartani, who is paralyzed below the waist after being shot in the chest November 25 in Burlington.
More than 18,000 donors have contributed since the Family and Friends of Hisham fund was started five days ago.
The Palestinian college student of archeology at Brown University and two friends were reportedly shot without warning on South Prospect St. by Jason Eaton, 48, of Burlington, a Woodstock native and former Sterling College student with a history of mental illness.
Eaton was found Sunday in his Prospect St. apartment by police and charged with three counts of attempted murder. He was jailed without bail.
The gofundme page offers other details:
“On Saturday, Nov 25th, 2023, Hisham — a 20 yr old junior at Brown University — and his childhood friends Kinnan and Tahseen were walking to Hisham’s grandmother’s house for dinner in Burlington, Vermont, when all three were shot in an unprovoked attack.
“We are thankful that all three will survive this attack, and Hisham’s friends are expected to make a full recovery. For Hisham, however, one of the bullets that struck him is lodged in his spine and has left him paralyzed from the chest down.
“Hisham’s first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away. He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude – even a sense of humor – even as the reality of his paralysis sets in.
“We, his family, believe that Hisham will change the world. He’ll change the world through his spirit, his mind and his compassion for those much more vulnerable than himself, especially the thousands of dead in Gaza and many more struggling to survive the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding there.”
A second extensive story by Seven Days confirmed this week that Eaton had a history of mental instability, was active with a Unitarian-Universalist church in Burlington, and made several pro-Palestinian comments on social media.
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Categories: Burlington, Crime
Do we really know what happened that night?
Over a $million? I can’t even afford proper housing.
You are not paralyzed for the rest of your life, for what, being out enjoying the company of a couple of friends? I am glad this money is being raised for this young man. It says that some people in this world and Vermont still care. And I don’t look at this as a collection linked to Palestine. This is linked to a senseless tragedy. Bob Kraft got it right yesterday on CNBC when he said: “The roll of social media in America is horrible”. I don’t agree much with VTDigger anymore, but I have come to realize they probably did the right thing when they did away with their comment section.
Nah. Freedom of speech extends to everyone, and the fact that you are rightly or wrongly offended by someone’s comment does not justify EVER censoring or stopping anyone’s Constitutional right to speak freely UNLESS they are threatening or inciting violence…….kinda like what some Palestinian students were proposing against Jews on the campuses of Harvard and MIT – as only yesterday their University President’s smirked & labelled it ” encouraging free expression”.
C-SPAN 12/6/23; Congressional Hearings on Antisemitism.
And btw, CNBC & their associated companies ought to know well the evils on social media – as they perpetrate much it. Nonetheless, changes should be certainly enacted including, perhaps, the mandate for using proper names as MANY conservatives on here do.
What a thing to say
Tragic that the collection is linked to Palestine. Too bad the BLM collections weren’t linked to suffering in Africa. The money would have been better spent there. I am certainly sympathetic to this young man: it is just surreal watching his personal injuries politicized when there is no connection. Then there was George Floyd…..
Discrepancy between the article and the title. Title says 137 million, article says 1.37 million. Kind of a big difference. Which is it? According to the website, it is 1.37 million. Mr. Page, please correct the title.
If ONLY people, when assessing criminal activities, would nix the use and abuse of race and other professed victimized groups based upon religion, sexuality, & related various mindsets – which up until merely a few years ago were considered psychoses.
What occurred to this young man is tragic and horribly sad. Yet what is equally sad however, is the manner under which this crime is being politicized by “progressive” & “liberal” extremists, as thus far there remains no determination that this was perpetrated on the basis of race or religion – but rather perpetrated by yet another mentally unstable individual with an illegally obtained firearm.
I wonder conversely how much money was raised on behalf of the family and friends of homeless shelter director Leah Rosin who was brutally stabbed to death earlier this year in VT by Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvich-Jammeh who has since been charged with first degree murder?
Stop ALL this horrific and amoral violence!
And stop manipulating a victim’s personal background to serve your personal political agenda and popular causes!!!!!!!
All violence and the resultant repercussions of such are to be equally condemned by every single one of us.
While I think the shooting was both horrific and senseless, there is zero evidence that it was a targeted hate crime, despite the efforts of the media, their families and “Palestinian “ supporters to make it that. From the beginning it appeared to be a case of a mentally ill shooter who shouldn’t have had a gun due to his mental health history, but obviously none of that showed up when he applied for a gun. I think that the huge sum raised was due to the high level of antipathy for Israel and support for Gaza here in VT and elsewhere in parts of the US. If he had been just a regular ole white kid hurt in a car accident it would never have generated this amount of publicity or donations. But this event gave a lot of publicity to the pro Hamas protests even though it had zip to do with it.
How much $ was donated to that lady beaten by the man wielding the kleated snowshoe? Or the dude with the hammer….twice? Or the young man that was curb-stomped? Just wondering….
Alex
Exactly. But it made the donors feel so self righteous to do this because they want to demonstrate their love and support for Gaza.
this shooting has a real stink about it. something is missing.
I am empathetic to the young man seriously injured in a violent act, as I would be to anyone disabled by an act of violence here or anywhere. The body count climbs daily. A quick search of his name shows a plethora of emotional triggering articles about this young man and his parents posted from around the world. It appears he is being propped as an archetype for geo-political warfare consumption. By his or his parental unit’s consent or by proxy? The timing of the incident, the media blitzkrieg, the “authorities” swooping in to control and manage, has many boxes checked of something more than what is being “officially” disclosed. Many people in our region are victims of violent acts, but only a select few get headlines that reach across the globe. Gee, I wonder why?