All members of the Elon community are invited to attend a vigil on Feb. 12 in memory of the three young people who were murdered in Chapel Hill this week.
Dear students, faculty and staff,
We are horrified by the news of the murder of three young people in Chapel Hill Tuesday evening. People across North Carolina and around the world are deeply saddened and troubled by the details we are learning about this crime. We grieve such a senseless loss of human life.
The victims were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Deah was a student in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, Yusor was a 2014 graduate of North Carolina State University and Razan was a current student at NC State.
Police have a suspect in custody. More details about the homicide can be found here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/11/4547742_chapel-hill-police-arrest-man.html?rh=1
This crime is destructive to our common humanity and may be especially painful to our Muslim faculty, staff and students. The victims were committed to their Islamic faith, which motivated them to serve others and to raise money to support Syrian refugees.
Offering thanks for their lives and witness, the staff of Elon’s Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life offers condolences to the victim’s families and friends. We want to stand against any violence, and especially violence that may have been motivated by misunderstanding and hatred. We pledge ourselves to continued efforts to make Elon and our surrounding area safe and hospitable for Muslims and people of every faith and perspective.
In addition to tomorrow’s vigil, Dr. Shereen Elgamal of the Department of World Languages and Cultures will lead a short introduction to Islam on Tuesday, February 17, at 4:15 p.m. in the McBride Gathering Space.
We hope you will be able to join us for both events.
The Rev. Dr. Janet Fuller
University Chaplain