Interesting dynamic in yesterday's UNC shootings, where you had a militant atheist gunning down three Muslim neighbors. There were disputes between the shooter and the victims over noisiness and parking places in their campus apartment complex, so it may not have been due to their ethnic background.
Is this a "hate crime?" Most murders involve the shooter being upset enough at the victim that they're willing to kill them. That would apply to killing off a significant other or a rival gang member; the shooter would have hated what the other person did or was doing.
However, that's not how the term is used in modern political/legal discourse, where the term is reserved for killing someone of a particular demographic group.
If the case involved assault or vandalism, there is a case to be made that such crimes should be treated differently than a barroom brawl or the unauthorized spray-painting of a wall. However, the shooter here will most likely be up for first-degree murder charges, leading to at least a life sentence, if not the death penalty.
It's kind of hard to make extra punishment with that, at least not with anything that would pass constitutional muster. How do you tack on extra punishment onto a trip to Ol' Sparky?