46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks appeared before a Durham County Court Judge on Monday for a Rule 24 hearing.

The state will be allowed to pursue the death penalty against Hicks as new details emerged about his case.

Hicks is accused of shooting and killing three Muslim college students the night of February 10, in the Finley Forest Condos, which are in the Durham County section of Chapel Hill.

Durham District Attorney Roger Echols says the state is prepared to go forward with the charges as they stand: three counts of first-degree murder and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.

The Rule 24 hearing is held in any case where the state is pursuing the death penalty, as it is in this case.

Some have called the killings a hate crime. While Echols would not commit to the state pursuing the murders as a hate crime, he says the parallel inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is ongoing.

And Echols says the District Attorney’s Office is cooperating with the federal investigation.

In the courtroom, James Dornfried, with the Durham DA’s Office, recounted the events of the night of the shooting.

He said Hicks approached the residence of 23-year-old Deah Barakat and his 21-year-old wife Yusor Abu-Salha. Dornfried said Barakat answered the door and was having a conversation with Hicks when the suspect pulled a concealed firearm and shot Barakat multiple times.

Hicks then, allegedly, turned his firearm toward Abu-Salha and her sister Razan, shooting each multiple times.

Dornfried recounted when Hicks was exiting the apartment, he shot Barakat once more.

The state argued two aggravating circumstances, including that two murders were committed after the initial killing, were the reason for the pursuant of the death penalty.

Evidence was presented to support these claims, including that DNA of the victims as well as gunshot residue was found on the clothing of Hicks when he turned himself in to authorities in Chatham County. And that ballistics recovered from the scene matched the .357 firearm in Hicks’ possession when he surrendered.

Several members of the victims’ families were in attendance at the hearing. When they were exiting one could be heard shouting “scumbag” in the direction of Hicks.

Echols says the decision to pursue the death penalty is never taken lightly and that it was discussed with the victims’ families.

The next court date for Hicks will be in the first week of June.