Man charged with shooting 3 Palestinian college students accused of harassing ex-girlfriend in 2019

The man accused of shooting three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont last weekend was accused of harassing an ex-girlfriend in upstate New York several years ago, but charges were never filed, according to a police report.

Jason J. Eaton’s ex called police in Dewitt, New York, a city near Syracuse, in 2019, saying she had received numerous text messages, emails and phone calls that were sexual in nature but not threatening from Eaton, and wanted him to stop contacting her. This is evident from a police report obtained by The Associated Press. NBC News first reported the complaint.

The woman said Eaton drove by her house in his pickup truck that evening and a second time while she was talking to the police officer. She said she did not want to press charges against him, but just wanted police to tell him to stop contacting her, the report said.

Police stopped Eaton’s vehicle and he told them he had the impression the woman still wanted to see him, the report said. The officer told Eaton that the woman absolutely did not want any contact with him and he said he understood, police said.

Eaton, 48, is currently being held without bail following his arrest Sunday in the city of Burlington on three counts of attempted murder. Authorities say he shot and critically wounded the three students in Burlington Saturday evening as they walked near the University of Vermont. The students spent the Thanksgiving holiday with one of the victims’ relatives who lived nearby. Burlington police said Eaton had moved to Vermont from the Syracuse, New York, area this summer. He pleaded not guilty on Monday.

Eaton’s name appeared in 37 Syracuse police reports from 2007 to 2021, but never as a suspect, said police spokesman Lt. Matthew Malinowski. The cases ranged from domestic violence to theft, and Eaton was listed as a victim or person who filed the complaint in 21 of the reports, Malinowski said.

Authorities are investigating Saturday’s shooting to determine if it was a hate crime. The students were talking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing black and white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, police said. According to news reports, one of the students has been released from the hospital, while one of the students faces a long recovery due to a spinal cord injury.

Eaton had recently lost his job. He worked for California-based CUSO Financial for less than a year, and his employment ended Nov. 8, company spokesman Jeff Eller said.

He legally purchased the gun used in the shooting, police said. On Sunday, Eaton came to his apartment door with his hands up and told officers he had been waiting for them. Federal agents found the gun in his apartment later that day.

Awartani and the two other shooting victims had been friends since first grade at Ramallah Friends School, a private school in the West Bank. Rania Ma’ayeh, who heads the school, called them “remarkable, distinguished students.”

Awartani studies mathematics and archeology at Brown University; Abdalhamid is a medical student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania; and Ali Ahmad studies mathematics and IT at Trinity College in Connecticut. Awartani and Abdalhamid are U.S. citizens, while Ali Ahmad is studying on a student visa, Ma’ayeh said.

_____ Associated Press reporter Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.