Texas man arrested on assassination warrant in Moroccan immigrant shooting: NPR

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Terry Turner, 65, was arrested on Friday. He faces charges in the shooting death of Adil Dghoughi outside Turner’s home in Martindale, Texas.

Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office


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Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office


Terry Turner, 65, was arrested on Friday. He faces charges in the shooting death of Adil Dghoughi outside Turner’s home in Martindale, Texas.

Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Terry Turner on a warrant accusing him of the murder of Adil Dghoughi outside Turner’s home in Martindale, Texas. Turner reportedly shot Dghoughi, a native of Morocco who was unarmed, through the window of Dghoughi’s car.

Despite being arrested on Friday for murder, Turner, 65, spent less than two hours in custody. Online files show he was jailed at 9:54 a.m. CDT and released on bail at 11:50 a.m. The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said Turner surrendered after detectives contacted his. lawyer.

Turner’s arrest came 11 days after the death of Dghoughi, 31, a delay that frustrated relatives of the victim and rights groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“We welcome the arrest, but our work is not done,” said CAIR-Austin executive director Faizan Syed, pledging to demand “justice for Adil Dghoughi’s family and for all families in Texas and nation affected by gun violence. ”

According to CAIR-Austin, Dghoughi “was a Moroccan national who received a master’s degree in financial analysis from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island after immigrating to the United States in 2013”.

Dghoughi was shot through the window of his car

The shooting took place in the early morning darkness of October 11, after Dghoughi pulled his car to a halt near Turner’s house on the 100 block of Tina’s Trail in Martindale, about 35 miles south of Austin. The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said Turner “was confronted with a suspicious vehicle parked outside the residence.”

Turner reportedly told investigators he noticed a car in his driveway in the middle of the night when he woke up to go to the bathroom, according to local media citing an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant. .

By this time, the headlights of Dghoughi’s Audi were off. But as Turner retrieved a handgun and walked outside, the lights came on and the car “began to accelerate quickly in reverse,” according to Austin TV. KXAN.

Turner ran after the car, slamming his window. He then fired his gun at the driver. In a transcript of the 911 call Turner made to the police, he told the dispatcher, “I just killed a guy,” explaining that he “tried to shoot a gun at me, I shot KXAN reports.

But sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the scene did not find a weapon in Dghoughi’s car, according to the affidavit.

Adil Dghoughi, 31, was parked in a car in a rural neighborhood late at night in Texas. He died after being shot through his car window.

Adil dghoughi


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Adil dghoughi


Adil Dghoughi, 31, was parked in a car in a rural neighborhood late at night in Texas. He died after being shot through his car window.

Adil dghoughi

Delay in Turner’s arrest drew criticism

MPs executed a search warrant on the day Dghoughi died, but Turner was not arrested. Instead, the Sheriff’s Office said, “The shooter in this case is cooperative and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office does not believe there is a threat to the public.”

The delay in filing charges and releasing information about the case has frustrated Dghoughi’s family, as well as advocacy groups who are concerned that any criminal case against Turner could be hampered by Texas law. “Stand up”.

These laws were meant to provide legal support to people in rare instances of self-defense, such as when a person is defending their own property. But “there is a history of self-defense laws invoked when black people are unjustly killed,” as reported by NPR’s Deepa Shivaram.

The sheriff’s office appears to have heard some of the criticism about the delay in arresting Turner.

“The detectives have worked tirelessly on this case,” the agency said when announcing the move, adding that investigators “have conducted several interviews and executed several search warrants.”

CAIR-Austin is organizing a interfaith prayer vigil in remembrance of Dghoughi on Saturday night outside the Texas Capitol in Austin.

Information has been removed from the incident report

Only scattered details of what happened have been made public. In an incident report sent to NPR by the Sheriff’s Department, the “narrative” portion of the form that would normally describe the events was written in its entirety.

The Caldwell County District Attorney’s Office said it was limiting the disclosure of information about Dghoughi’s death, citing state law that allows details to be withheld in the event of an ongoing investigation or prosecution.

The sheriff’s department report lists the criminal offense as murder, specifying part of Texas law that applies to anyone who “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual.”

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