OCTOBER 8, 2019
Attorney: Lauderhill store owner firing AK-47 towards customer was self-defense
Brandon Beyer | Marisela Burgos
LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - The attorney for a Lauderhill convenience store owner caught on surveillance video firing an automatic rifle towards a customer said the shooting was self-defense.
Andrew Reir, the attorney for Saf Ahmad, claims the shooting outside the store on Christmas Eve 2017 falls under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
“Mr. Ahmad did not provoke a confrontation,” Reir said. “The confrontation was brought to Mr. Ahmad, and he defended himself.”
Ahmad faces aggravated battery charges for firing an AK-47 at Jason Morris, a customer at the store.
“Mr. Ahmad was protecting himself, his store, his co-workers,” Reir said. “If you don’t believe that Saf Ahmad was in fear of imminent bodily harm, why did he push his employee into the store?”
Morris could be seen on surveillance video entering the store and appearing immediately to pick a fight.
“He went to provoke a confrontation, and that’s exactly what he got,” Reir said. “He got what he wanted: a fight.”
When Morris is asked to leave, the situation escalates. He could be seen kicking a trash can in the parking lot and hurling it at the front door. The flying trash can barely missed a customer, the video showed.
After Ahmad again yelled for Morris to leave, Morris instead started doing doughnuts with his car, and Ahmad’s attorney said he threw an object that sounded like a gun.
“He proceeded to throw something against the wall that created the sound of gunfire,” Reir said.
Ahmad has a concealed weapons permit and was armed with a pistol. When the owner tried to fire the weapon, it jammed.
However, Ahmad then grabbed an AK-47 and fired several shots at Morris. One of the bullets struck him, causing Morris to crash his car near the scene. He would survive the shooting.
Reir believes the charges brought against Ahmad should be dismissed.
“He did not bring this fight to the victim,” Reir said. “Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the victim brought it to Mr. Ahmad.”
A hearing to consider the motion to dismiss the charge has been scheduled for November.
- I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you... -
Now,
Dude needs to rethink his carry weapon. Jammed? Why? Sat Night Spc.?? Cheap ammo? Zero maintenance?
Dude, in the next shoot out, needs to refrain from spraying and praying to Allah.
Instead he could've taken out the bad guy with a single shot with a long gun, even an AK.
Doesn't look as cool on camera but it's effective and safe for bystanders.
Dude at least kept his finger off the trigger upon reentering the establishment.
This shit is literally a nightly occurrence and I'm willing to bet the nature of the conflict was the drug trade that happened in the parking lot and who was getting how much of a cut.
Additional details in this report. I highlighted the "good" parts:
Video shows Florida store owner shoot an AK-47 at an angry customer. Was it self-defense?
BY DAVID OVALLE
OCTOBER 08, 2019 06:30 AM, UPDATED OCTOBER 08, 2019 02:24 PM
Saf Ahmad, a Lauderhill convenience store owner, shot and wounded Jason Morris during a confrontation in December 2017. Ahmad is asking a judge to throw out the case under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
An angry man barged into the Kwik Pic convenience store in Lauderhill, left it in a huff and threw a garbage can at the front door, scattering trash on the floor. Then, he drove in circles outside the market and hurled a bottle at employees standing in the doorway.
The response: Store owner Saf Ahmad, 30, stormed out of the store and fired a hail of bullets from an AK-47 — all caught on dramatic surveillance video.
So was it self-defense? A Broward circuit judge will soon decide whether Ahmad was justified in shooting at Jason Morris, who was hit in the back and suffered a “permanent disability.”
Police detectives say Morris was unarmed and and “appeared to be no immediate threat to Saf Ahmad nor his employees who were standing in the doorway of the business.” But Ahmad’s lawyers say Ahmad believed the bottle was a “possible grenade or similar device” and thought Morris had grabbed a gun in an “attempt to then fire at him.”
Ahmad is seeking immunity under Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, which eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using deadly force. Critics have long complained that the law, backed by the politically powerful National Rifle Association, encourages vigilante justice and gives criminals an easy way to beat allegations of violence.
A Stand Your Ground hearing will be held Nov. 1 before Broward Circuit Judge Tim Bailey. Ahmad, of Hialeah, is charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.
“Mr. Ahmad fully cooperated with the investigation, without a lawyer. He gave a record statement for hours,” said his defense lawyer, Andrew Rier. “He made sure 911 was called, and provided the video surveillance used by the police. He made every effort to protect his customers and employees, in defending himself from what he believed to be an imminent threat.”
The Broward State Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
The shooting happened on Christmas Eve of 2017. The victim was Morris, 33, of Pompano Beach. Morris told police that he went to the store upset because the previous day, a friend of his had been “severely beaten” by employees of the Kwik Pic, 5440 NW 19th St.
Morris claimed employees “constantly use threats of violence and harm to intimidate patrons,” according to a police report by Lauderhill Detective Tarra Walker.
Ahmad claims that Morris was cursing, making “physical gestures” and threatened to come back later “and shoot the store up.” He also yelled out, “you all Arabs gotta get out of my hood,” according to defense attorneys.
Morris is African American. Ahmad, who had a valid concealed weapons permit, hails from Palestine. His lawyers say he needs firearms because the neighborhood is a “high-crime area.”
Morris angrily left the store, got into his car and began “making donuts on the road.” Then, Morris later admitted, he threw a bottle of castor oil at the front of the store.
That “loud bang” made Ahmad believe his store was being shot at, his lawyers say. Another employee, armed with a pistol, came out and fired a warning shot in the air.
Then Ahmad came out and claimed he saw Morris reach into his waistband “while simultaneously yelling at him and making threats.”
Lauderhill police, however, didn’t believe Morris was a threat. Detectives say Ahmad and his employees were already inside the store when the bottle was thrown, and they “re-engaged” Morris.
“No firearm was found inside of the vehicle and no ballistic evidence was recovered to support Saf Ahmad’s claim that Jason Morris fired a weapon at him,” the detective wrote.
