The Rev. William Barber, North Carolina NAACP president, is connecting the recent controversy over the Muslim call to prayer at Duke University to the homicides of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill this week. 
 
 In praying for the slain students Thursday afternoon before an organized protest at the state Legislative Building, Barber talked about a climate hostile to Muslims that is “creating the insane atmosphere that triggers the hate of so many.” 
 
 Barber criticized “those claiming to be faith leaders” for challenging Muslim students’ right to pray publicly. 
 
 The killings in Chapel Hill prompted worldwide attention. Authorities and the alleged killer’s wife have said the homicides do not appear to be the result of hate against Muslims, but were prompted by anger over how parking spots were used in the condominium complex where the shootings took place. The victims’ family members say the deaths are a hate crime. 
 
 Barber said in an interview he wrote out his prayer at 3 a.m. Thursday morning. 
 
 A segment was about Duke University’s plan to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the Duke Chapel bell tower each Friday. Duke canceled that plan after intense blowback, including criticism from Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 
 
 Graham called for people to stop donating money to Duke until the decision was reversed. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Graham said Islam was “not a religion of peace.” 
 
 In his prayer, Barber called the homicides “the worst of our fears” coming true. 
 
 “The fear of what can happen when students’ right to pray publicly is challenged even by those claiming to be faith leaders as though this will contaminate our purity and threaten our own faith,” according to a printed version of Barber’s prayer. 
 
 Barber did not name Graham in the prayer, but did in an interview Thursday night. “It was so bothersome for Franklin Graham to come out a few weeks ago against prayer,” Barber said. ||||| Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama on Friday condemned the "brutal and outrageous murders" of three Muslim students who were shot earlier this week. 
 
 "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," Obama said in a statement. "Michelle and I offer our condolences to the victims' loved ones." 
 
 The FBI is investigating the killings alongside local police. who believe the shooting was tied to an ongoing parking dispute, though they have not ruled out hate as a motive in the crime. 
 
 The three victims were students at the University of North Carolina and the victims' family said they believe the killings were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. 
 
 "As we saw with the overwhelming presence at the funeral of these young Americans, we are all one American family," Obama said in the statement. "Whenever anyone is taken from us before their time, we remember how they lived their lives -- and the words of one of the victims should inspire the way we live ours." 
 
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– After taking flak for remaining silent after the murder of three young Muslims in North Carolina, President Obama today condemned the killings. Noting that the FBI is investigating to determine whether the victims were shot because of their religion, Obama said that "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," reports CNN. Police have said that neighbor Craig Stephen Hicks shot the trio over a parking dispute, though the father of two of the victims is sure it was a hate crime motivated by their religion. Calling the slayings "brutal and outrageous," the president quoted one of the victims, Yusor Abu-Salha, who had described growing up in America as a "blessing" because "here we're all one." Meanwhile, the president of the state NAACP chapter cited the recent controversy over a Muslim call to prayer at Duke University as contributing to "the insane atmosphere that triggers the hate of so many,” reports the Raleigh News & Observer. The university scrapped plans to allow the call to prayer to be broadcast from the chapel bell tower after a torrent of criticism.