CNN National Correspondent Jason Carroll reported that Chapel Hill residents say suspected killer Craig Hicks had an “obsession” with parking, although questions lingered over why he targeted three Muslim students for murder on Friday’s “OutFront.”
Carroll, who spoke from Chapel Hill after talking to residents there said that neighbors of Hicks and the three victims were “saying a number of things. They’re saying that this is a man [Hicks] who quite clearly had an obsession, if you will, over parking in the area, had a temper over that as well. The question that a lot of people are asking is, since he took his aggression out on so many people in that particular neighborhood, why then, did he target this one particular family?”
He continued, “neighbors say Hicks had a temper, especially who was parking where.” One neighbor he spoke to, Derek Xu, stated “I had parked over in that parking lot over there, and as I was leaving he just kind of came out to talk to me. He was a little bit agitated and said ‘hey, you shouldn’t be parking here.’…I was kind of surprised anyone cared that much about parking, but at the time, I thought nothing of it.
Carroll added “Hicks not only had a reputation with his neighbors, but also with the local tow truck company,” one of the tow truck operators Carroll spoke to reportedly described Hicks as a “nuisance,” and someone who called “on a regular basis.” The operator said “when they said it was parking dispute over there, not too surprised…it actually got to the point where he was no longer allowed to call a car in. If he called, we wouldn’t go out.”
He also reported that one of the victims told her father “I think this man hates us, because of who we are.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett