Dem Rep: ‘Enough Facts’ to Say NC Shooting Might Be a Hate Crime

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) believes there are “enough facts” to lead to the conclusion that the execution-style shooting deaths of three Muslims in North Carolina amounts to a hate crime.

While police in Chapel Hill said a preliminary investigation suggests Craig Stephens Hicks acted based on a parking dispute, Facebook posts show Hicks’ atheist attitudes and his disdain for Islam and Christianity.

Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said that based on those posts and newspaper articles he has read about the murders — in addition to people he has talked to in North Carolina — the parking dispute explanation is likely “not the whole story.”

“It’s prudent for us not to jump to a conclusion, but it’s also prudent for us to keep all options open, including the possibility that it was a biased, motivated crime,” Ellison said told New Day co-host Alisyn Camerota.

Watch the full interview below, via CNN:

[Image via screengrab]

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