The Durham County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, WCHL has confirmed.
Hicks is accused of shooting and killing three Muslim college students – 23-year-old Deah Barakat, his 21-year-old wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her 19-year-old sister Razan Abu-Salha – on February 10 in the Finley Forest Condominiums in Chapel Hill.
Candy Clark, Administrative Assistant with the Durham County DA’s Office, says the notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Hicks was filed February 25. She adds the Rule 24 hearing will likely be held the week of April 6.
Preliminary investigations from Chapel Hill Police point to an ongoing parking dispute as the motive of the shooting.
There is some belief that the shooting was motivated by religious tensions between Hicks and the three students.
The FBI has opened a parallel inquiry into the incident to determine if the shooting was a hate crime.
No inmates have been executed in the state of North Carolina since August of 2008.
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