#ChapelHillShooting and #MuslimLivesMatter trended on Twitter as users expressed shock, revolt and outrage that media and police did not perceive the incident as a hate crime.
The Chapel Hill shootings that took place in North Carolina on Wednesday and lead to the death of three Muslims have brought about widespread condemnation.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, a full-time paralegal student from Chapel Hill, was charged with first-degree murder in the shootings two miles (three km) from the University of North Carolina campus.
The victims were newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, and his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Yusor's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. All were involved in humanitarian aid programs.
Human rights activists and many from the Muslim community demanded that the police treat the incident as a hate crime. However, the police's uncertainty on the whether the shooting was a hate crime and claims that the media did not provide adequate coverage to the incident and did not perceive it as a hate crime led to an uproar on social media. #ChapelHillShooting and #MuslimLivesMatter trended on Twitter.
Here are few of the tweets that describe much of the outrage that followed on the micro-blogging website.
People were concerned about the racial discrimination and misrepresentation that takes place in society.
The massacre of young lives disgusted many.
Others blamed the media saying that they did not take the incident seriously and did not see it in the context of a hate crime.
A few felt the cause of discrimination of African Americans was sidelined by the using of #MuslimLivesMatters which was inspired by #BlackLivesMatters which was used post the Ferguson police shooting protests.
Many demanded that Washington too must respond.
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