Investigators are “working hard” to determine the motive behind a shooting that left three Palestinian college students wounded in Vermont, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said Monday.

The three Palestinian college students who were shot in Vermont are, from left, Tahseen Ali Ahmad, who attends Trinity College; Kinnan Abdalhamid, a Haverford College student; and Hisham Awartani, who attends Brown University. (Awartani family/Institute for Middle East Understanding/TNS) Provided photo

Three college students of Palestinian descent out for a walk in Vermont were seriously injured over the weekend when a man shot them at close range on a city street — an attack being investigated as a possible hate crime,

The woman reported messages that “were sexual in nature but not threatening,” which came after she made it clear she didn’t want “to communicate with him,” police said.

The man accused of shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, over the weekend pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges on Monday and was ordered by a judge to remain held without bond.

Twenty-year-olds were going to family Thanksgiving dinner when white man with handgun fired on them