The families of three Muslim students shot dead by a white neighbour have farewelled their loved ones as they reiterated calls for the killings to be treated as a hate crime.
More than 5000 people gathered on Thursday for the funeral of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her 19-year-old sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, who authorities say were killed by a neighbour.
The alleged shooter, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was believed to be strongly opposed to religion, as his Facebook page showed dozens of anti-religious posts, including proclamations denouncing Christianity, Mormonism and Islam.
Police said they were investigating the crime as a parking dispute, but victims' families repeated their belief the attack was religiously motivated.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had launched a parallel probe into the killings. Federal prosecutors often look into suspected hate-crime cases - a conviction for "hate crime" results in a tougher sentence.
"We are definitely certain that our daughters were targeted for their religion," the psychiatrist father of the sisters, Mohammad Abu-Salha, said.
"This is not a parking dispute, these children were executed with shots in the back of the heads," he said, surrounded by tearful family members as they prepared for the final funeral prayer.
"This has hate crime written all over it and I'm not going to sit down for it," he said later before three caskets.
He said his daughter Yusor had complained that Hicks had harassed her, and appeared at her door to complain about a parking space with a gun holstered at his waist.
Chapel Hill police Lieutenant Joshua Mecimore said the crime appeared to have been provoked by "an ongoing parking dispute between neighbours", but added all motives were being investigated.
Officials said the incident did not appear to be part of a broader anti-Muslim campaign, and District Attorney for Middle North Carolina Ripley Rand said the killing was being treated as an isolated incident.
Neighbours recalled Hicks as troublesome, frequently squabbling with nearby residents over parking, and seen with his gun in public, according to local media reports.
The killings rattled the community, fuelling fears among some Muslims in the tight-knit university town.
Some Muslim leaders said the shooting was a reflection of wider anti-Muslim hostility, and warned it could sow fear among Muslim-Americans.
"People are very concerned about what happened. They feel that this is a premeditated hate crime," Nihad Awad, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said.
But there were calls for calm and leaders urged restraint.
"It's time to mourn, but it's also time to call for harmony and peace," the head of the Islamic Association in neighbouring Raleigh, Mohamed Elgamal, said.
The killings sparked outrage among Muslims worldwide, with the Twitter hashtags #ChapelHillShooting and #MuslimLivesMatter trending globally.
Relatives and friends honoured Deah, Yusor and Razad on Thursday at the traditional Muslim service.
Tearful crowds followed the funeral hearse to an outdoor service, where thousands gathered to kneel and pray.
The victims' parents wept as their children were buried, the sisters together in one grave next to Deah, while prayers echoed from the crowd.
Deah and Yusor were married on December 27, and the new bride was set to attend UNC dentistry school in August.
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