Posted on 03/18/2007 6:26:50 PM PDT by StillProud2BeFree
Soldier: Taunts lead to shooting of student
By DAVID SIMPSON The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/17/07
Spc. Craig Perkins' uniform made him a target in Baghdad — and, he believes, again in an apartment complex near Clarkston.
Perkins, who returned last summer after almost a year's duty in Iraq, shot a man outside his apartment March 9 in what he says was the culmination of months of insults by some of his neighbors from the Middle East. Renee' Hannans Henry (ENLARGE) Spc. Craig Perkins says he shot a Mideastern college student last week in self-defense.
Perkins, 34, said some residents in the ethnically diverse Kristopher Woods Apartments taunted him and made spitting sounds when they saw him in uniform heading to or from National Guard duty.
Now Perkins is moving. He said he did not want more conflicts.
Perkins said he shot 26-year-old Tareq Ali Bualsafared in self-defense after Bualsafared and another man threatened him. He said the two men rushed toward his front door even after he fired a warning shot.
Bualsafared, a college student from the United Arab Emirates, said Perkins was the aggressor. He said Perkins cursed them.
Bualsafared, who was shot in the leg, said neither he nor his friend, Saleh Ali, a 17-year-old refugee from Iraq, knew anything about Perkins before he confronted them as they walked by his apartment.
In interviews Friday, the accounts of Perkins and Bualsafared agreed on one detail: There were angry words about Iraq before shots were fired.
Perkins moved in with his girlfriend and her son in the apartment complex south of Clarkston in the summer of 2006. He had just spent almost a year in Baghdad with the Georgia-based 48th Infantry Brigade.
He served most of his time as a "ground pounder" — a soldier who traveled in Bradley armored vehicles, conducting patrols and manning observation posts in Baghdad.
His Bradley once hit an improvised explosive device, he said, filling the vehicle with smoke. His company was spared combat deaths during his tour, he said, but after his return he was horrified to learn from CNN that an Army friend had been kidnapped and beheaded.
In the Clarkston area, Perkins joined a community heavily populated by refugees of violent conflicts around the world. He quickly noticed attire and customs he had seen in Baghdad.
He said he had no animosity for his Middle Eastern neighbors in Clarkston. "I've never been a prejudiced person," he said.
He noted he is a black man with a white girlfriend. He said he has white and American Indian ancestors.
But he said he could feel the animosity when he walked by his Middle Eastern neighbors in his Guard uniform.
Women and older men tended to be polite, but the younger men were hostile, he said.
On many occasions, he said, he received signs of disrespect he knew from Iraq. Men made exaggerated spitting noises, and "they would raise their shoe at me to show me the bottom of their feet, or they would take off their shoe and wave it at me."
Perkins said that before last week's shooting, he had never seen Bualsafared or Ali, neither of whom lived in the apartment complex. But he believes others helped prod the men to come to his apartment looking for a fight.
In a telephone interview, Bualsafared said he and Ali were simply out for a walk with two women when they passed through Perkins' apartment complex. He and Ali told police Perkins came out of his apartment and confronted them for allegedly looking at him or his girlfriend.
"How would I know he was a soldier? I didn't know that until he told me before he shot me," said Bualsafared, a former DeKalb Technical College student who said he was visiting friends in Clarkston on spring break from his current studies at Penn State University.
Perkins, however, said a group of three men and a woman originally walked by him as he walked his girlfriend and her son to their car. He said he could hear people muttering obscenities and saying "there he is."
Perkins said he locked his girlfriend and her child in the car and went to get his gun. Both he and Bualsafared agree the group then left the area.
Perkins said two men returned and rushed him; Bualsafared said he and Ali were leaving in separate cars, but Ali stopped and got out when Perkins cursed at him.
In an argument that followed, Perkins said, he yelled "Soldier in the U.S. Army." Bualsafared said Perkins said, "I'm a soldier in the U.S. Army, I just came from Iraq," and Ali angrily replied, "I'm from Iraq."
Perkins said Ali said something about being an Iraqi and said he wasn't afraid of Perkins' .45 caliber automatic pistol.
Bualsafared said Perkins then fired. Perkins said he warned the men to stop and fired a warning shot, but they ran toward him until he fired several shots. He said Bualsafared made it to his front steps, a few feet from his door.
Bualsafared said the men were in the parking lot when Perkins shot him.
DeKalb police spokesman Michael Payne said a detective's report showed blood was found "just outside" Perkins' door.
Police at the scene arrested Perkins and charged him with aggravated assault. But after about 15 hours in jail, he was released when a magistrate's judge declined to sign a criminal warrant. Perkins is not now charged with a crime, Payne said.
On Thursday night, Ali was arrested by DeKalb police for criminal trespass, DeKalb jail records show. The arrest was apparently based on a complaint that he should not have been in Perkins' apartment complex at the time of the incident.
Perkins said he also obtained temporary court orders to keep the men away from him.
Bualsafared had not been charged Friday, he said. He said he spent a night in the hospital but was walking on his wounded leg. He was staying with a friend in Athens and planned to return soon to Penn State.
Yusof Burke, spokesman for the North Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he had been asked to look into the incident on behalf of the Arab men. He said they felt "unjustly accused."
Burke said he was unaware of Perkins' complaints about rude behavior by other Arab men in his apartment complex.
"It would be a shame if it did happen that way," Burke said. "If there's tensions like that, we'd definitely like to get involved to see what we can do to help the situation."
For his part, Perkins said he will not return to his girlfriend's apartment, to avoid another conflict. He is temporarily living with his mother in Sandy Springs, near his part-time job as a cook at a comedy club. He and his girlfriend plan to move to another apartment in the Clarkston area next month.
And he has volunteered to go back to Iraq.
He said joining the National Guard helped him straighten out after a series of scrapes with the law as a young man.
"I wear my values around my neck," he said, fingering his dog tags and breaking into tears. "Before, I didn't have any values."
Staff writer Anna Varela contributed to this article.
Yes, as a former prosecutor.
The guy got lucky with the magistrate. That doesn't mean that the DA can't take it to a grand jury if he wants to.
> Yes, as a former prosecutor.
Like I thought: you're a lawyer and not the guy who actually pulled a trigger on someone. Figures.
Following your *professional* advice, then -- I take it you mean shoot-to-kill -- you'd place the hapless victim of crime in a position of defending him/herself in court on a charge of manslaughter/murder? After already being victimized sufficiently to provoke the use of a potentially lethal weapon? For *taunts*??? ie namecalling???
Incurring all of the court costs that would inevitably follow arising from your advice? Complete with appeals, that $2 bullet begins to look rather expensive...
Where is the good sense in that?
I can see where the prosecutor might benefit, but what about the hapless sod pulling the trigger? For namecalling???
Court costs will certainly ruin him/her for life. There goes the family home, the savings, the retirement pension -- all into lawyer pockets to keep him/her out of the Crowbar Hotel. Nevermind the strain of having a death on one's conscience.
All the while you -- as prosecutor -- are doing your dead-level best to take away his/her freedom because "that's your job."
Great. Just great! I hope nobody is stupid enough to take your advice on this subject.
I guess the cynic in me says that you probably mean it is probably better to kill the crim than to wound him -- corpses can't sue for damages -- but even so...!
Proper professional advice should probably read something like this: "if faced with a situation where people are taunting you and calling you names, holster your weapon and walk away. Remember: sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you. A bullet from your firearm sent in their direction, on the other hand, can really mess up the rest of your life."
And how many folks have you winged, big talker?
I've already said it once, but I'll repeat it for the slower students. If you shoot to wound, rather than shoot to kill, it may be taken as evidence that you were not really in reasonable fear for your life. You might have to put your plans on hold for the next 20 years. If you are not justified in shooting to kill, you are generally not going to be justified in shooting at all.
It also leaves a witness whose story is going to differ from yours. If there hadn't been blood at the doorstep, the hero of this story would probably be sitting in jail at this minute.
It's easier to defend someone on a murder charge in a case like this than it is an aggravated battery charge.
If the person who taught you told you to shoot to wound instead of shooting to kill, you probably ought to ask for a refund and take a course from someone who knows what they are talking about.
Wait a minute - I just clicked on your name. You are flying a New Zealand flag. What do you know about Georgia laws to pretend to be giving advice as to what will get you into or keep you out of jail there?
> And how many folks have you winged, big talker?
I've winged none, and do not purport or intend to. And yes, I have owned and am trained in the correct use of firearms.
As to being a "big talker", sticks-and-stones, mate: you're the one who talked big. I correctly called your bluff.
> I've already said it once, but I'll repeat it for the slower students.
You advocated "more range time" for somebody who let fly at someone for "taunting". I stand by my comments: this was silly advice from somebody who should know better. Big-ballsed bravado that, if followed, would certainly screw up somebody's life.
Even an "open-and-shut" case is going to cost heaps to defend. With no certainty of outcome: Gaol is still an option if the defense isn't sufficiently robust.
His better move would certainly have been to holster his firearm and walk away. In any jurisdiction.
> Wait a minute - I just clicked on your name. You are flying a New Zealand flag. What do you know about Georgia laws to pretend to be giving advice as to what will get you into or keep you out of jail there?
That's easy. I'm an immigrant to NZ, very well-traveled in the US (including Georgia) and quite familiar with your firearms laws. And other matters of law-and-order for that matter, due to my "hobby".
No bluff to call. I commented on the legalities of the situation, and when questioned, gave a portion of my credentials.
You are the one who is all talk.
And if he was aiming for center of mass and hit the leg, yes, he needs more range time. If he was aiming for the leg, he needs better training.
In addition to asking for a refund for your firearm training, you probably should ask for a refund for your legal training as well.
Me too.
5th column, my man, 5th column.
They infilertrate, lay low until enough of them get into an area and them things begin to happen. This story is one of them. When this happens you are on your own. Do not expect any help from the government the police includes. For reasons of political correctness they are scared shitless of the muslims.
There is a world of difference between legitimate refugees and grant funded programs.
Foreign aid is foreign aid.
"Craig Perkins is a man I'd be proud to have as a neighbor."
Say it loud and proud, brother.
I wouldn't do "warning shots". You don't draw and put your finger inside the trigger guard until you're ready to kill.
No it is not. NGOs are UN.
Maybe his aim was only off a few inches, or the guy moved just as he was pulling the trigger. It's not the same as punching holes in paper... well not usually anyway.
Perfectly acceptable when dealing with infidels.
If they did, and haven't returned it. I'm willing to chip in to his replacement fund. Let's see, dealing with Jihadies, he'd best have something "beefy". Maybe a nice 1911 or something lighter in the same caliber. But of course his Significant Other should have something for those times when he's not there, so maybe a nice .40 S&W, in a Glock or something else. $1,000 - 1,500 should do the trick.
Any local Freeper that can find out if his gun was indeed confiscated, and if so set up a fund in a local bank for us to send our contributions to?
> In addition to asking for a refund for your firearm training, you probably should ask for a refund for your legal training as well.
I shan't be doing either, thanx mate: I'm happy with both. But I might have considered asking you for a refund for your legal advice had I been a defendent silly enough to seek it under similar circumstances... (shoot-to-kill for taunting -- Crikey!!)
but then again: free legal advice is worth every penny you pay for it. So all up, it's a wash: no harm, no foul.
Do you have reading comprehension problems, or are you being intentionally obtuse?
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