The condominium unit of Craig Stephen Hicks had four handguns, a pistol he used to gun three Muslims who also live in the same building in North Carolina, two shotguns, six rifles and several loaded magazines and cases full of ammunition.

The police seized these weapons from his Chapel Hill condominium. The breakdown of the items, confiscated from the house that the 46-year-old gunman shared with his wife, were listed in the search warrants issued by the court.

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Also recovered by the search team were eight spent shell casings in the unit of his victims, 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.

While there is much fear of Islam followers caused by atrocities committed by terrorist Muslim groups such as the al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the name of their religion, U.S. President Barack Obama said, "No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship," quotes CBC.

The president, who described the killings as brutal and outrageous murders, confirmed that the FBI has initiated an investigation into the incident if federal laws were breached.

While the father of two of the victims (the third victim is his son-in-law) insists it was a hate crime because of their being Muslims, Chapel Hill police said there is no evidence yet that Hicks killed them because of their faith. But they are looking into the possibility that Hicks and the three, neighbors in the same condominium, have a long-standing dispute over parking spaces.

Experts agree that hate crimes are quite rare and difficult to prove. A hate crime conviction would need proof that Hicks deliberately gunned the three due to their religion, race or national origin and not over a dispute.

TagsMuslim, shooting, hate crime, Chapel Hill