The FBI has said that it would open an inquiry into the shootings of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., a move that followed multiple calls this week for authorities to investigate the violence as a hate crime, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
However, this probe stops short of being a full investigation, as had been reported in multiple media outlets since the FBI made its announcement. Rather, it is an initial review of evidence to see if federal laws were broken during the shooting.
This seems like semantics, in part because it is, but in part because this kind of inquiry is not the same thing as a full investigation. It is worth noting this when you consider the attention this shooting has attracted around the world and the fact that just hours before the FBI announced their inquiry, the father of two of the victims publicly called on the FBI to investigate.
Police are investigating the shootings of three people — newlyweds Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19 — on Tuesday afternoon at a housing complex near the University of North Carolina.
Craig Hicks, 46, has been arrested and charged with three counts of murder in the shootings. The FBI has been working with the Chapel Hill Police Department on the investigation, helping the department process evidence in the case.
“The FBI has also opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether or not any federal laws were violated related to the case,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday. This inquiry could turn into a full-fledged investigation, depending on what evidence is found, an FBI spokeswoman said Thursday night.
Police have said that their initial investigation suggests that the shooting was motivated by a parking argument, something that has been echoed by Hicks’s wife. But this explanation has seemed unconvincing to people in Chapel Hill and beyond, who point to the religion of the three victims and to Hicks’s repeated social media postings criticizing organized religion.