Jason Eaton, 48, pleaded not guilty Monday to shooting three Arab men in Burlington, Vt. over the weekend.

The three victims were visiting one of their families in Burlington and were reportedly wearing the traditional Arab keffiyeh scarf and speaking Arabic when they were attacked. Eaton pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder and is being held in jail without bond, while police are investigating the motive behind the incident.

“We still do not know as much as we want to know,” Burlington police chief Jon Murad said at a Monday press conference. “But I would urge the public and you in the media to avoid making conclusions based on statements from people who know even less than we currently do. We are working hard to find out this information.”

Authorities have not yet determined whether the attempted murder should be considered a hate crime.

“Although we do not yet have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, I do want to be clear that there is no question, this was a hateful act,” said prosecutor Sarah George.

The three students — Hisham Awartani of Brown University in Rhode Island, Kinnan Abdalhamid of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad of Trinity College in Connecticut — remain hospitalized after Eaton discharged four rounds at the victims. All three were hit. Two of them are in stable condition while the third sustained “much more serious injuries,” according to police.

Rich Price, who is Awartani’s uncle, was hosting the students for Thanksgiving. Price said he and his family fear the shooting “was motivated by hate” and that they “were targeted because they were Arabs … [and] were wearing keffiyehs.”

“I think that is our fear,” the uncle added. “I’ll speak on behalf of my family, my sister’s family, we believe in the sanctity of a presumption of innocence and due process and so we’ll support the authorities as they go through their investigation but, certainly seems like that’s our fear.”