Hate crimes take all shapes and forms. Today’s mass killing of three Muslim students near UNC Chapel Hill is one such incident. The identity of the victims is clear, and it is also clear that they were killed because they were Muslim.

We’re now learning about the identity of the shooter, and his motivations.

He sought to kill these Muslim students. And these three people who wanted to do good for their communities:

Barakat and Abu-Salha were married Dec. 27. Abu-Salha’s Facebook photo - posted two days ago - shows her smiling as her father twirls her around the wedding dance floor.

She was scheduled to graduate in December with a degree in biological sciences from NCSU, according to a university release, and she graduated in 2011 from Athens Drive High School in Raleigh. Her sister Razan Abu-Salha graduated from Athens Drive in 2013 and was studying architecture and environmental design at NCSU.

Barakat, a Syrian-American, majored in business administration and management at NCSU before enrolling at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 to pursue his doctorate in dental surgery.

Both he and Abu-Salha advocated for global dental health, providing care and supplies to people in the United States and the Middle East. On Jan. 29, Barakat posted a Facebook photo of a Durham project that gave dental supplies and food to more than 75 homeless people this year.

That the shooter was an atheist is unusual but rather besides the point. His motivations are quite similar to those of others who kill or espouse violence towards Muslims (or other minorities), including many so-called Christians who have no issue killing (or calling for the killing) of non-Christians.

Interesting too that he targeted three Muslims, and not three fundamentalist Christians, who are far more prevalent in North Carolina. His targeting of three Muslims may also stem from a possible altercation over a parking spot (as some reports are alluding to).

In the end, he still killed three people, and a community grieves over a senseless murder spree.

That this is yet another mass killing involving firearms, and that the shooter was apparently a good guy with a gun right up until he murdered three people is going to be lost on many who who focus instead on the atheist leanings of the shooter as indicative of a left-leaning ideology (as if there aren’t right wing examples of atheists?!)

I’m also sure that Chuckles will be digging into the backgrounds of the victims to find justifications for their being killed. Because that’s what Chuckles does.