Defendant in shooting of 3 Palestinian students in Vermont said guided by FM radio messages from CIA

The trial for the Vermont man charged with attempted murder in the November 2023 shooting of three Palestinian college students in Burlington entered its fourth day Thursday, with testimony now focusing on whether the 51-year-old defendant is criminally insane. 

In court proceedings Wednesday, in Burlington, jurors heard a tape recording of defendant Jason Eaton telling his attorneys after the shooting – weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza – that he was acting under the direction of voices he was hearing through his FM radio from the CIA and others.

Eaton says at one point in the recording that a voice told him, "Go stop them now,” as the victims walk down the street and near the front porch of his street. 

Authorities in the early stages of investigating the shooting, near the University of Vermont campus, considered the possibility of charging Eaton with a hate crime but didn't have enough related evidence. 

So far in the trial, which began Monday, Chittenden County prosecutors have relied largely on forensic gun evidence and testimony from over a dozen witnesses including police and the three victims. 

Eaton now faces three charges of attempted murder. He could face a life sentence if convicted of the charges. 

Dr. Fabian Saleh, a forensic psychiatrist with The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, testified Wednesday for the defense that he relied heavily on the recording as well as medical and court records and his interviews with Eaton in reaching his conclusion that the defendant was legally insane at the time of the shooting, according to local news outlet The Vermont Digger. 

And in opening statements, defense lawyer Joshua O’Hara, previewing testimony from a defense psychiatrist, told jurors his client was suffering from a delusional, psychotic disorder after losing his job at a credit union two weeks before the shooting.

The trial is expected to continue through the week. An expert for the state is expected to testify that Eaton was not insane at the time of the shootings.

In the first two days of the trial, Chittenden County prosecutors in presenting their case relied largely on forensic gun evidence and testimony from over a dozen witnesses, including police and the three victims.

According to trial testimony, Eaton stepped off a porch and without speaking shot Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad while they were on a walk. They survived but Awartani was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Two of the men wore traditional Palestinian scarves and reportedly spoke a mixture of Arabic and English prior to the shooting.