WASHINGTON: One of the three college students of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont last month is paralysed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, the student’s family said.

Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old student at Brown University who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was walking with two friends near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on Nov 25 when police say 48-year-old Jason Eaton shot them with a handgun in a suspected hate crime. Eaton has pleaded not guilty.

Tahseen Ali Ahmad, who attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut, were expected to make a full recovery. But Awartani — whose grandmother the three 20-year-olds had been visiting over Thanksgiving break from school — received a much graver prognosis, according to a statement his family wrote for a fundraiser to offset his medical expenses.

“He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude — even a sense of humor — even as the reality of his paralysis sets in,” Awartani’s family wrote on their GoFundMe page, which had raised over $200,000 as of Sunday morning.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023