For the past few weeks, the execution-style murder of three young black Muslims in Indiana has been called everything from “mysterious,” to “heart breaking,” to “just another story.”

The three victims were Mohamedtaha Omar, 23, Adam Mekki, 20, and Muhannad Tairab, 17. They were all discovered in a home dubbed as a “hangout house” with multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities assume more than one person was involved in the crime but did not reveal a motive just yet.

However, many have been asking; why have the stories behind their murders been so mysterious? And why has mainstream media not covered this nationally?

“I’m not surprised that we’re not hearing about this nationally. It’s not exactly groundbreaking; it’s kind of local news. Nonetheless, if this proves to have been racially or religiously motivated, then I think that’s going to be heard about more,” sophomore and Senator of the Black Student Union (BSU) Adina McCray said.

Others, such as sophomore Thahabu Gordon, believe the lack of attention might be religiously motivated.

“I initially scrolled over the story because lately I’ve been doing that with all of the news regarding hate crimes because it makes me really sad, but when I finally read it I was really angry and sad,” Gordon said. “Especially because everyone automatically assumed it was gang related, like that’s obvious anti-blackness. And I think them being Muslim is also why it’s getting downplayed.”

Many took to social media using the hashtag #OurThreeBrothers to make noise about the underreported crimes and to demand answers, such as Al-Jazeera English columnist Khaled Beydoun, who tweeted “Muslims are only newsworthy when villains. Not victims. Rest in Peace Adam, Muhannad, and Mohamaed.”

Users also said their murders fall directly under the criteria of Islamophobia and the Black Lives Matter movement – claiming that is what makes reporting on this more difficult and explains the failure of community outreach as well.

“Black Muslims are kind of erased in the black community and sometimes Muslim community, but mostly in the Arab community,” Gordon said. “And that’s the case with the three boys, no one really cares because they’re supposed to be the ‘have not’s’ of their communities.”

“I wonder, is it because these brothers are black that the Muslim world is quiet, because they’re not Arab? Does the Muslim world see this as a black lives issue? And does the Black Lives Matter see this as a Muslim issue?” said Maha A., a member of the Bronx Muslim community. “I honestly believe activists have forgotten the purpose of their movement and are too focused on themselves rather than the people they’re fighting for. Loads of people have the mindset that if the injustice isn’t relevant to my life [it’s not] worth fighting for.”

People on social media have also been comparing this story with that of the Chapel Hill shooting, which took place last February, and asking why this did not cause the same outrage within the Muslim communities.

“A lot of people felt like they knew the Chapel Hill victims since they saw themselves in them. They saw they were tweeting about last year’s Super Bowl ending interception and the halftime performance. Their lives were real and felt. I’m not saying just because we don’t have the Twitter accounts of these three brothers then we don’t really know much about them either. Nothing justifies the silence,” Maha said. “The fact of the matter is everything is being hidden […] They’re not releasing the names of the murderers or possible motives. The case seems almost unreal because of how much they’re suppressing the facts. And all we’re left with are opinions. We have no answers, no facts, just speculations.”