When federal agents came for Jason Eaton, he did not run and he did not argue. He opened the door and said, “I’ve been waiting for you.” On Monday a Vermont jury rejected his insanity defense and convicted him of trying to kill three college students.
Story Snapshot
- A Burlington jury convicted Jason Eaton of three counts of attempted second-degree murder.
- ATF agents testified that when they reached his door he told them, “I’ve been waiting for you,” and went into custody without incident.
- Eaton never disputed that he was the shooter. His defense was that he was legally insane.
- The three victims — Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmed — were students walking near the University of Vermont. One was left paralyzed.
“I’ve Been Waiting For You”
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the jury what happened when they arrived at Eaton’s apartment. He came to the door, said he had been waiting for them, and surrendered without a struggle. He was taken into custody without incident.
It is the kind of detail a jury does not forget, and it sat awkwardly beside the defense the courtroom heard for the next week — that Eaton had been so detached from reality that the law should excuse what he did.
After a weeklong trial, a Vermont jury on Monday convicted Jason Eaton of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian students near the University of Vermont campus in November 2023
The attack left one of the students paralyzed from the waist down and two of his friends… pic.twitter.com/QfVrGejSAk
— The New Region (@thenewregion) September 21, 2026
The Verdict
The jury found Eaton guilty on three counts of attempted second-degree murder for the November 25, 2023 shooting near the University of Vermont. The victims, all Palestinian college students visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, were Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmed. The verdict came after a week of testimony.
Prosecutors told jurors Eaton aimed to kill. Eaton pleaded not guilty but did not deny he was the shooter, so the case turned almost entirely on a single question: whether a mental disease or defect excused him under Vermont law.
Eyewitness Accounts And Emergency Audio
Victim testimony described a close-range ambush on North Prospect Street. One man recalled seeing a gun pointed at him and then hearing shots as he fell. Another described the chaos on the ground and the rush to get help. The jury heard 9-1-1 audio in which a wounded victim cried out, “I’ve been shot!” The recordings placed the violence in real time and supported the state’s timeline of the attack and the response.
Witnesses and first responders filled in the rest. Prosecutors kept the jury on conduct and intent: who fired, why, and whether the law excused it.
Inside The Insanity Defense
Eaton’s lawyers argued he heard a command to “go stop them now,” which they said reflected a break from reality. Defense experts pointed to recordings and records they said showed a disordered mind. The prosecution answered with a state forensic psychiatrist who concluded Eaton did not have a qualifying mental disease or defect, and instead described traits consistent with a personality disorder — which does not meet the legal bar for insanity in Vermont.
Jurors rarely see an insanity plea, and when they do they usually reject it. The plea is raised in roughly one percent or fewer of felony cases, and succeeds in a small fraction of those. Here the jury weighed the claim and concluded that Eaton understood what he was doing and that it was wrong.
Physical Evidence
Prosecutors presented a firearm and cellphone data they said linked Eaton to the shooting, connecting location, conduct and weapon.
What the jury heard was a steady sequence: three young men on a walk, shots fired at close range, frantic emergency calls, and a man who answered his door as though he had been expecting it.
What Happens Now
The conviction brings legal accountability for a shooting that left one student paralyzed and two others wounded. Sentencing will determine how long Eaton serves.
Sources:
wcax.com, wbur.org, wsls.com, wamc.org, mynbc5.com, apnews.com, bbc.com, vtdigger.org
