Three Palestinian university students were shot on Saturday in Burlington, Vermont, in what authorities described as a "hate-motivated crime".

Police characterized the gunman, who is still at large, as "a white man with a handgun."

"Without speaking," according to the police, "he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot."

According to a police statement, two of the victims are in stable condition, while the third has "much more serious injuries." It was stated that two are US citizens and one is a lawful resident.

Police have confirmed that although no official motive has been announced, two of the three young adults shot were wearing the traditional Palestinian koufiyyeh.

Three young Palestinian men, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali and Kenan Abdulhamid, students at Brown and other US universities, were shot last night on their way to a family dinner in Burlington, USA. Their crime? Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. They are critically injured. And… pic.twitter.com/OwafFkHwg4

— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) November 26, 2023

Burlington police chief Jon Murad expressed that "in this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime."

Murad added that the next priority was identifying the shooter and detaining him.

According to a spokeswoman for the victims' families, all three are graduates of the Ramallah Friends School, a private Quaker school in the West Bank, and are currently enrolled in various universities in the northeastern US.

The statement detailed that parents were "devastated by the horrific news that our children were targeted and shot... We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice."

The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee disclosed that "we have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab."

Bernie Sanders, Vermont Senator and presidential candidate, called the attack "shocking and deeply upsetting," adding that "hate has no place here, or anywhere."

This is not the first hate crime to target Palestinians in the US, as last month, a Palestinian child was killed and his mother was badly injured after being stabbed over a dozen times in Plainfield Township, Chicago.

Early this month, after Fox News channel’s host Jesse Watters advocated violence against Arab Americans, a White House spokesperson called on the news channel to apologize to its viewers. 

Watters said on the Fox show "The Five", on Wednesday evening, "If you’re an Arab American in this country, and you rip down posters of Jewish hostages, American hostages, no. No, no, no. Someone is going to get punched in the face.”

The White House Deputy Press Secretary, Andrew Bates, said in a statement sent to The Guardian that Watters’ remarks were “unacceptable”, adding that "Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans.”

Watters added, “I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world. We – and when I say we I mean the West and Western technology – have created the Middle East. We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground, our military protects all of these oil shipments flying around the world, making them rich. We fund their military. We respect their kings. We kill their terrorists. OK? But we’ve had it. We’ve had it with them!”