Three Muslim students — a young woman, her sister and her husband — were shot dead at a condominium in the university town of Chapel Hill on Tuesday at around 5 p.m. local time (10 p.m. GMT). Major media outlets, including CNN and BBC, reported the murder only several hours after it had occurred.
News outlets were late with covering the story due to the victims' nationality, a human rights activist wrote in the Independent newspaper on Wednesday.
"The lack of coverage proves the West's dehumanisation of Muslims is almost complete," Sabbiyah Pervez, operations manager of Inspire, a human rights and gender equality organization, wrote in the newspaper.
Dozens of Twitter users on Wednesday also expressed their outrage at what they called media silence over the Chapel Hill shooting.
The only reason I know about the #ChapelHillShooting is because of social media. Just like Ferguson, Eric Garner, and numerous trans murders
— llüfke (@wjlly2) 12 февраля 2015
"The #ChapelHillShooting in #NorthCarolina is totally unacceptable. Such incidents should be condemned and given appropriate media coverage," Mufti Ismail Menk of Zimbabwe wrote on his Twitter page.
"How many HOURS has it been since the #chapelhill shooting & ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION ON ANY NEWS NETWORKS?" another Twitter user @moroccanbeardo said.
There are far too many examples of violence against Muslim Americans that disappear in the media. #ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/bKV79EI8qB
— Bipartisan Report (@Bipartisanism) 12 февраля 2015
Tarek Abughazaleh, a cardiologist in Northern Virginia, posted on his Twitter page a meme of monkeys labeled CNN, Reuters and BBC covering their ears, eyes and mouth.
The shooting also created speculation on social media that it was a hate crime against Muslims.
On Wednesday, Chapel Hill police announced that 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks turned himself in late on Tuesday in the wake of the shooting. The alleged shooter was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
The killing could have been motivated by a parking dispute but authorities will investigate whether the fatal shooting was a hate-crime, the police said.
