Store Clerk Chases and Kills Dorian Harris But Did Not Call Police

Hat tip to Black Lives Matter Memphis.

Dorian Harris

On March 29, 2018, 17-year old Dorian Harris walked into the Top Stop Shop in Memphis, Tennessee, snatched a bottled drink, and ran out of the store.  Some news sources say that he stole a beer while others say it was a wine cooler.

The store clerk, 28-year old Anwar Ghazali, left the store with a gun in his hand. He chased Dorian and fired about three times.  Ghazali returned to the store and told a customer that he thought he shot Ghazali.  He did not call the police to report the theft, neither the shooting.

Another customer went through the neighborhood looking for the kid, thinking that if he had been shot, he might need help.  She did not see him and thinking he escaped, neither did she call the police.

It was Good Friday, and Dorian was expected to spend the night a cousin’s house.

Two days later, Dorian’s body was discovered about a block from the store.  He died from a gunshot to the left thigh.

Upon discovering his body, witnesses to the shooting contacted police who questioned Ghazali.  Ghazali waived his Miranda rights and told the police that he left the store, chased Dorian, and fired at least three shots.  Outside surveillance video captured Dorian entering and leaving the store, as well as Ghazali leaving the store, chasing behind Dorian and then returning to the store.

Ghazali is charged with first degree murder.  His bond is set at $1 million.

Anwar Ghazali

At a preliminary hearing, Ghazali’s defense attorney Blake Ballin, tried to get the court to reduce the charges.  He has said that the video does not show Ghazali firing the gun and there might be things that the video doesn’t show that gives reason to believe that Ghazali might have exercised self-defense.

Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Loyce Lambert Ryan held the charge of first-degree murder.  She did so because Ghazali left the store and chased Dorian, and because a witness testified that Ghazali said that he thought he had shot Dorian.

Prosecutors said there was no need for Ghazali to defend himself with deadly force, because Dorian never threatened, but just ran from the store.  Ghazali left the store and looked for Dorian, and fired multiple times.  They argued that those actions together show that the killing was premediated.

Judge Lambert Ryan bound Ghazali’s case over to a grand jury for possible indictment

Anwar Ghazali’s defense lawyer says that Ghazali was born in Yemen and is now a U.S. citizen.

This case reminds me of the case of Michael Dunn in Florida, who shot into a vehicle, killing 17-year old Jordan Davis.  Dunn continued firing at the vehicle as it was driving away.  He left the scene and did not call the police.  When he was later identified and taken into custody, Dunn claimed self-defense.  In his first trial, Dunn was convicted on 3 counts of attempted murder but the jury hung on the charge of first-degree murder.  The jury in Dunn’s second trial in October 2014, convicted him of first-degree murder.  The prosecutors stated that the fact that Dunn fired as the vehicle was pulling off, that he left the scene and did not call the police were elements for a conviction of first degree murder.

In November 2016, Dunn lost an appeal and is currently serving a sentence of life without parole.