Vermont man charged with shooting 3 Palestinian students was recently fired from financial services job

Jason Eaton, a former Boy Scout leader charged with shooting three Palestinian college students, was fired from his financial services job just weeks before the violent attack.

Eaton lost his job at CUSO Financial Services, where he worked less than a year, on Nov. 8, a spokesperson for the company told CNBC. They declined to say why Eaton was let go.

“We are horrified by the shooting, and are cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Prior to his time at CUSO, Eaton worked for Ameritrade in Fayetteville, New York from May 2019 through March 2021, and before that for about a year at Edward Jones in East Syracuse, according to records maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He also previously served as an assistant scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America, according to online records.

“Jason James Eaton was last registered with the BSA in 2021 in Upstate New York as an Assistant Scoutmaster with a local unit. He is not currently a member of the BSA,” the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement to ABC News.

“Upon learning of his arrest he has been banned from registering in Scouting [in] any capacity and will be proactively placed in the Volunteer Screening Database.”

On Monday, Eaton appeared in Vermont Superior Court via web conferencing. His attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to three counts of attempted murder. He’s accused of gunning down Hisham Awartani, a junior at Brown University; Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania; and Tahseen Ahmed, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut.

Two of the victims were sporting keffiyeh scarves typically worn by Palestinians, and the group was speaking a mix of English and Arabic when they were approached by the gunman Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. They were returning from a birthday party for the 8-year-old twin cousins of Awartani at time, his uncle, Rich Price, said at a news conference.

Eaton was arrested Sunday night at his apartment in Burlington.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Eaton told a federal agent as he answered the door, according to court documents cited by CNBC.

A search of the residence later turned up a Ruger .380-caliber pistol and ammunition that matched the brand of shell casings found at the shooting scene in Burlington. Police said he purchased the weapon earlier this year.

While a motive for the violence remains under investigation, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad in a statement said authorities are taking current events into consideration. For the last seven weeks, Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip with rockets and ground attacks — which have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians — in retaliation for Hamas’ pre-dawn incursion on Oct. 7. Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed in the raid and another 240 taken hostage.

“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime,” he said

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger meanwhile called the triple shooting “one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history.”