On February 10, 2015, Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha were killed in their home in Finley Forest Condominiums on Summerwalk Circle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Barakat was a second-year student in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, his wife Yusor was a North Carolina State University (NCSU) graduate planning to enter UNC Dentistry School in the fall, and her sister Razan was a student at NCSU majoring in architecture and environmental design.
Their neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, who killed the three people in a single attack, turned himself in to Chapel Hill police later that day and was arrested. On February 10, the Chapel Hill Police Department stated that their "preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking. Hicks is cooperating with investigators." Hicks was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
On February 16, Hicks was indicted by a Durham County grand jury on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice also launched their own investigations into the shooting. Federal authorities could not find sufficient evidence to charge Hicks with a hate crime. The trial was scheduled to take place in the summer of 2019. On June 12, 2019, Hicks pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment.
Shooting
On February 10, 2015, local police in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, responded to a report of gunshots heard at 5:15 p.m. Upon arriving at the Finley Forest Condominiums, located on Summerwalk Circle at Chapel Hill, a woman told them a friend was bleeding, and directed them to a condominium. There, they found Barakat lying dead in the front doorway bleeding from the head. One of the Abu-Salha sisters was found dead in the kitchen, with the other lying in the doorway of that room. All three victims had been killed with gunshot wounds to the head, and were pronounced dead at the scene.
According to prosecutors, the perpetrator shot Barakat multiple times at the doorway after the latter opened the door in response to his knocking. He then entered the living room and shot the Abu-Salha sisters in the head, then shot Barakat again before leaving. According to autopsies, the Abu-Salha sisters were shot execution-style.
In June 2019 it was reported that Deah Barakat had recorded the encounter with Hicks on his cellphone camera. The recording shows Hicks complaining that Barakat and the Abu-Salha sisters were taking more parking spaces than the condo rules allow, before Hicks opens fire with his gun.
A witness outside told police he had heard shots and saw a man leaving the condominium and driving off in a gold car. Police found eight shell casings in the living room and a bullet somewhere else inside in the home, according to a warrant. They seized three cellphones, a watch, two sets of keys, and Barakat's wallet and keychain.
The victims' neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, a 46-year-old former car parts salesman, turned himself in to sheriff's deputies in nearby Pittsboro on the night of the shooting. He was in possession of a .357-caliber handgun at the time. Investigators later positively matched the handgun's ballistics to the shell casings found in the apartment.
Victims
Three people (two of whom were students) were killed: