(Newswire.net — February 12, 2015) — Chapel Hill, N.C. – Craig Stephen Hicks, 46-year-old man from North Carolina, handed himself in to officers in Chapel Hill confessing to the killing of 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. He has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Contrary to the stereotype of mass murderers as deranged sociopaths and haters, Hicks Facebook profile presented a peace loving man that believes in ‘less religion – less crime’ slogan, the supporter of “Atheists for Equality”.
A regular social media user, his last three posts were a cute dog video about the Pavlov effect, a viral advert for Air New Zealand involving mountain bikes, and a picture from United Atheists of America asking “why radical Christians and radical Muslims are so opposed to each others’ influence when they agree about so many ideological issues”, media reported.
While Hicks describes himself as a fan of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason and Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, his Facebook profile says he is a fan of the ‘Criminal Minds’ and ‘Friends’. Amongst ordinary photos and ‘likes’ that profile him as a decent guy, there is one photo, however, that might reveal his dark side. Beside his wife, and the Disneyland, he loved his ‘loaded 38 caliber revolver’, and posted a picture of it.
On the other side, that doesn’t prove anything. So, he had a gun. Many people, especially in Texas, are traditionally proud of their lethal collections. The atheists are believed to be peace loving and freed of any religion-motivated hate.
So what was the motive that could drive non-hater to hate so much that he executes three ‘kids’ in cold blood by shooting them in the head? Police said Hicks was cooperating and that their preliminary investigation showed that the parking dispute was the motive. However, victims’ parents strongly believe that was a pure hate crime. They believe the parking dispute may initiate the conflict, however, nothing would happened to them if they weren’t a Muslim.
Hicks were being held without bond early Wednesday in the Durham County jail.