The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that it is conducting a parallel investigation on the killing of three Muslim students in North Carolina.

FBI investigations on Friday said they have not ruled out a hate crime in the killing of Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, who were shot Tuesday night in their condominium.

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"The FBI has opened a parallel preliminary inquiry to determine whether any federal laws were violated," investigators said.

The police initially believed that the three young students were killed by Carl Stephen Hicks, 46, over a parking dispute although police investigators are also looking at the possibility of religious or ethnic hatred as motive in the killing.

Hicks, who has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, is a self-described "gun toting" atheist with a reputation for bullying his neighbors.

The suspect also had a history of getting into confrontations with neighbors over parking space at the condominium complex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

But aside from a parking dispute, police and FBI investigators are also looking into reports that the father of the murdered women said Hicks had signaled a motive of hate in prior confrontations.

Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, a psychiatrist, said his daughter, who attended North Carolina State University, had prior confrontations with Hicks.

"This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime," he told the Raleigh News Observer. "This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt.

A Facebook page in Hicks' name that described him as a supporter of "Atheists for Equality" and blasted "radical Christians and radical Muslims" for causing strife in the world.

In a press conference, however, Hick's wife, Karen, denied the rumor that the attack was hate crime and even described her husband as tolerant.

TagsFBI, North Carolina Killing, Muslim Students Killing