Adil Dghoughi, 31, was on his way back to Austin from a barbecue outside San Antonio when he pulled into a driveway in the town of Martindale. The homeowner, Terry Turner, noticed the car in his driveway, ran out with a gun, and shot Dghoughi dead.
Turner, 65, got up to use the bathroom before 4:00 am on October 11 when he noticed an “unknown vehicle with its headlights off” parked in his driveway next to his pickup truck, according to an arrest affidavit filed by a Caldwell County Sheriff’s detective.
Turner told the detective that he ran back to his bedroom to get his handgun and ran back outside to see the vehicle with its headlights on. He chased the vehicle as it began to reverse out of the driveway.
The affidavit stated that Turner struck the driver’s side front door twice with the handgun, fired the handgun, then returned to his house to call 911.
“During the 9-1-1 call made to the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, the caller stated that ‘I just killed a guy… [Dgoughi] “tried to pull a gun at me, I shot… he started racing away and I ran after him. He pointed a gun at me and I shot.”
However, no firearms were located inside of the vehicle or in the passion of the victim.
Turner turned himself in after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on a charge of first-degree murder. He was released within hours on a $150,000 bond and now awaits trial.
Dghoughi’s killing has attracted national and international press coverage and fueled online criticism of Texas gun culture, as well as claims of Islamophobia and racism on the part of the shooter.
The 10-day delay in making an arrest also stoked suspicions that local authorities would not bring the perpetrator to justice.
Dghoughi’s family believe that he was lost and had pulled over to look up directions. His girlfriend, Sarah Todd, who lives near Martindale, told Fox 7 that Dghoughi also had a habit of driving about to relax: “His habits were to drive around and decompress and listen to music.”
Faizan Syed, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Austin, said that Dghoughi “was a Moroccan national who obtained a master’s degree in financial analysis from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island after immigrating to the U.S. in 2013.”
“We welcome the arrest, but our work is not done. We will continue to advocate for justice for the family of Adil Dghoughi and for all the families in Texas and nationwide impacted by gun violence.”
Friends and supporters held a vigil for Dghoughi at the Texas Capitol over the weekend. A GoFundMe was started for Dghoughi’s funeral expenses and transporting his body from the U.S. to Morocco.
