Texan-Moroccan man shot dead after pulling into man's driveway

A Moroccan-American man was shot and killed by a man after he drove into a driveway in Texas, prompting condemnation about the state’s controversial gun laws.

Adil Dghoughi, a Muslim who immigrated to the US in 2013 and studied finance, was killed earlier this month by Terry Turner, the owner of the home whose driveway he had pulled into, possibly because he was lost.

Turner was charged with murder.

According to an affidavit seen by the Council of American-Islam relations (CAIR), Turner told police that he was inside his home and had got up to use the bathroom and walked across his living room. He opened his front door and saw Dghoughi’s car parked in his driveway with the headlights off.

He went back inside, got his handgun from his bedroom and ran outside, at which point Dghoughi turned his headlights on and began rapidly reversing.

Turner “chased after it. At the end of the driveway, while next to the driver’s side window, Turner said he hit the window twice with his gun and then shot through it. He then went back into his house and called 911,” CAIR said.

This story has gotten very little attention.

On Oct 11 in Texas, Terry Turner chased, shot, & killed Moroccan American Adil Dghoughi. Adil was unarmed & in his own car.

Police first refused to arrest or charge Turner. They finally did & he’s out on bond. Horrid.#JusticeForAdil pic.twitter.com/HywRgxwc5C

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) October 23, 2021

“I just killed a guy,” Turner told a dispatcher, according to the affidavit. While the dispatcher was gathering information, Turner allegedly added that Dghoughi “started racing away and I ran after him.”

Sarah Todd, Dghoughi’s girlfriend, told the station that she and Dghoughi were staying at her cousin’s home in the San Antonio suburb of Converse on the night of Oct. 10 after a barbecue but decided to leave just after midnight.

Turner’s Martindale home is seven minutes from Todd’s.

“Something like this should not have even been questioned. If someone is murdered, whether it’s on someone’s property or out in the street, they should automatically be arrested,” Todd said.

Turner claimed Dghoughi pointed a gun at him, no gun was found and Dghoughi’s family and attorney say he posed no threat to Turner.

The killing has shone fresh light on the state’s gun laws. The stand-your-ground law, or ‘no duty no retreat’ as it is also known, provides that people can use deadly force when they believe it is necessary to defend against deadly force. The castle doctrine also gives provisions for homeowners to use deadly force to protect their homes.

However, critics of the law argue it leads to unnecessary deaths, like the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was shot and killed by neighbourhood watch member George Zimmerman.

Others criticise how long it took to arrest Turner and called the killing nothing short of murder.

“It's disgraceful that it took law enforcement nearly 14 days to charge the man who killed Adil Dghoughi in cold blood,” CAIR said in a statement.

“This sends the message that Muslim and POC lives don't matter as much to authorities.”

“What in the white supremacy is this?” tweeted human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid.

People are using the hashtag #JusticeForAdil to raise awareness about the killing, and his friend Brahim Mellouli has set up a GofundMe page to raise money for his funeral and to transport his body from the US to Morocco.