Vermont Man Claims Intelligence Agency Orders In Shooting Trial

Trial Opens in Burlington for 2023 Shooting

According to reporting from the Associated Press, Eaton insisted that U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies transmitted messages to him via FM radio and that God commanded him to protect his Jewish neighbors.

Charges and the Core Legal Debate

The attack occurred a few weeks after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, sparking intense debate and calls for a hate crime investigation. Prosecutors ultimately brought no hate crime charges.

This left the central question of the trial focused on whether anti-Palestinian animus or an altered mental state drove the violence. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges, though he does not dispute that he fired the shots. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, while a not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity would result in court-ordered mental health treatment.

Defense Points to Delusions and Psychosis

Defense attorney Joshua O’Hara told jurors during opening statements that his client suffered from a delusional, psychotic disorder brought on by losing his credit union job two weeks before the shooting.

According to O’Hara, Eaton listened to a local NPR affiliate and believed the broadcasts carried hidden instructions from the CIA. The defense lawyer stated that the messages initially sounded encouraging and validating before turning dark and demanding that Eaton shoot someone.

Prosecution Cites Intent and Psychiatric Findings

Prosecuting the case, Sally Adams, the chief administrative deputy at the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office, told the court that a state psychiatrist concluded Eaton harbored no mental disease or defect. Adams asserted that evidence demonstrates Eaton intended to kill the three men, possessed no legal justification for the shooting, and fails to meet the legal standard for insanity.

Authorities recovered three shotguns from Eaton’s apartment alongside a Ruger .380-caliber handgun purchased seven months prior from a Vermont gun store, which crime labs matched to the shooting.

Victims Testify About the November Evening

The three victims—Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, all now 23—testified in court about the events of that November evening.

According to their testimony, the friends were visiting Awartani’s grandmother’s house over the holiday weekend, celebrated a birthday at a bowling alley, and took a walk near the University of Vermont campus after dusk. Awartani recalled that they were smoking cigarettes, speaking a mix of English and Arabic, and that two of them wore traditional Palestinian keffiyehs.

The Ambush and Ongoing Legal Proceedings

Awartani testified that he noticed Eaton standing silently on a porch as the group approached. Within seconds, Eaton stepped off the porch, closed the distance to roughly five to 10 feet with an expressionless face, and opened fire without speaking a word.

Awartani suffered a chest wound that left him paralyzed from the waist down and dependent on a wheelchair. Abdalhamid testified that he fled and hid behind a neighboring home after seeing Aliahmad fall, later realizing he had also sustained a wound.

Jacob Pyne, a resident of another apartment in the same building as Eaton, testified that he heard four to six gunshots followed by footsteps on the stairs. Pyne ran outside, heard a victim shouting for help after being shot, provided blankets, and dialed 911. The trial continues as the court weighs conflicting expert evaluations regarding Eaton’s mental state at the time of the attack.