A Texas man has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of an unarmed motorist.
An initial press release from the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office stated that the fatal shooting occurred on Oct. 11 at approximately 3:42 a.m., with deputies said to have responded to the Martindale area scene after a report of a shooting. A man, later determined to be 31-year-old Adil Dghoughi, was taken to a nearby hospital for life-threatening injuries. He died.
The county announced 11 days later that an arrest warrant had been obtained for Terry Turner, 65, adding that detectives had conducted “multiple interviews” and executed “multiple search warrants” as part of the investigation. Turner (seen below) was ultimately taken into custody on Oct. 22 after detective contacted his attorney, with regional outlet KVUE reporting that his bond was set at $150,000 and he bonded out of jail less than two hours later.
The KVUE report also cites an arrest affidavit, which sees Turner claiming to police that he had noticed an “unknown vehicle” with its lights off parked inside the driveway near his truck. At this point, Turner said he went to his bedroom to retrieve a handgun, then went outside and noticed the vehicle now had its lights on and was accelerating in reverse.
Turner is said to have followed the vehicle on foot, striking the driver’s side door with the gun before firing it and then calling 911. During that call, according to the report, Turner said he “killed a guy” and alleged that Adil Dghoughi—a Moroccan national—had first pointed a gun at him. However, no guns were found inside the vehicle or on Dghoughi’s person.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting, as well as the delay in Turner’s arrest, has many expressing concern by pointing to this story as the latest example of certain laws being used to justify violence against people of color.
“Stand your ground laws across our nation have a history of being used to commit legal violence against people of color,” Faizan Syed, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Austin, said earlier this month when calling for an independent probe into the shooting. “This incident is tragic to the family who lost a loved one under suspicious circumstances. We call for an independent and transparent investigation into the killing of Mr. Dghoughi, who was unarmed and in his car when shot.”
Speaking with CNN, Dghoughi’s girlfriend Sarah Todd said she believed her boyfriend had gotten lost in the Martindale area at the time and had pulled over to look up directions.
Complex has reached out to the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office for additional comment.
Over the weekend, a vigil was held for Dghoughi—who immigrated to the U.S. in 2013 and had a master’s degree from Johnson & Wales University—outside the Texas State Capitol.
