Police said 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks handed himself in to officers in Chapel Hill overnight in the wake of the deaths 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.
As tributes poured in for the young family, a Facebook page in Hicks’ name showed that he read paralegal studies at Durham Technical Community College and described himself as a supporter of “Atheists for Equality”.
READ MORE: THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS GUNNED DOWN IN NORTH CAROLINA
A regular social media user, his last three posts were a cute dog video about the Pavlov effect, a viral advert for Air New Zealandinvolving 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”.
TV programmes liked by Hicks include The Atheist Experience, Criminal Minds and Friends, while he describes himself as a fan of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason and Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.
Hicks posted this picture with the caption: ‘Yes, that is 1 pound 5.1 ounces for my loaded 38 revolver, its holster, and five extra rounds in a speedloader’
This picture shows Hicks on holiday with his wife in Disneyland
Hicks read paralegal studies at Durham county’s Technical Community College
Hicks’ pictures largely consist of images with text mocking religion and supporting atheism, but include images of himself and his wife at Disneyland, what he describes as his “loaded 38 revovler”, and himself separately on a quad bike and wearing a suit.
The shooting of the three Muslims has been widely condemned across social media, including by Richard Dawkins himself, who tweeted: “How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three young US Muslims in Chapel Hill?”
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Three Muslim-Americans were murdered at an apartment complex near the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on 10 February 2015, in what appears to be an anti-Muslim terrorist attack. Nine hours after the attack (which occurred at 5pm EST), there was very little media coverage, and no national coverage by any major news outlets.
Family members have confirmed on social media that the victims were Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha.
Barakat and Yusor had only just been married.
A day before she was killed, Yusor Abu-Salha posted this wedding photo. My heart breaks. RIP #ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/EBdQcMLOSH
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
The happy young couple had their entire lives ahead of them. 
Yusor had just began a D.D.S. program at the UNC School of Dentistry, according to her LinkedIn profile. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2014, and was 21 years old. 
According to his LinkedIn profile, Barakat had graduated in 2013. He appeared to work in law. He was 23. 
Barakat had created a Syrian Dental Relief program for Syrian refugee students in Turkey. He has now surpassed his original goal of $20,000. 
Razan was a UNC student as well. She was still a teenager, at just 19 years of age. 
Her last tweet on her Twitter account , on the evening of 9 February, was a Vine video of her friend dancing to music in a car.
wen u frenz w da fob https://t.co/wtKwug5pRi — Razan Abu-Salha (@realmoneyrazan) February 9, 2015
3 Muslim Americans Killed in #ChapelHillShooting; Media Ignored It http://t.co/vb47xiZC0w This will constantly be updated with new info. — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
If they had been white Christians, the media would have been all over it. RIP #ChapelHillShooting via @LatuffCartoons pic.twitter.com/lsP3oCPnQ3
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
Razan also kept a Tumblr blog on which she regularly posted. Her blog looks like it could have been any of ours. Yet she was killed because she practiced a different religion.
Some reputable sources are claiming the three were murdered execution-style. It is hard to verify, because, again, the media has released very little information.
Nine hours after the attack, local media finally reported that 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks had turned himself in to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in Pittsboro, NC. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks has been charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for the #ChapelHillShooting. pic.twitter.com/MwEgo18uUZ
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
After the #ChapelHillShooting 7-8 young people sat near the scene, worried for their families. http://t.co/KbUwkJ6adJ pic.twitter.com/rQiczc0eQ4 — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
#MuslimLivesMatter but not for @CNN @BBCWorld @NBCNews @CBSNews @ABC @FoxNews #ChapelHillShooting @sallykohn pic.twitter.com/n8lxLMbzmG — Hanifi Argün (@serseriasi77) February 11, 2015
Police refused to let Deah Barakat’s father go to his son’s apartment to see if he was okay. #ChapelHillShooting pic.twitter.com/77Zxf4cJAt — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 11, 2015
