Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Arlington, VA. (ABC7) — The owner of a South Arlington smoke shop is outraged after his employee was charged with multiple crimes for shooting a suspect who had allegedly broken into the business.
That owner says the employee used a gun that the owner had bought because he feared just such a crime during the coronavirus pandemic.
Arlington County Police say they were called to the Arlington Smoke Shop on Shirlington Road in Green Valley around 4:53 a.m. Sunday.
They say three suspects had forced their way in to steal cash and merchandise.
33-year-old Hamzeh Abushariah, who was temporarily staying at the store and sleeping in a back room, got up and grabbed a gun.
According to police, he “opened the door to the sales floor and discharged the weapon, striking one juvenile subject. The employee retreated to the back room but reentered the sales floor and discharged his weapon again as the subjects were attempting to flee the business.”
The juvenile who was shot is expected to survive. Arlington County Police say charges are anticipated in the breaking and entering, but Abushariah is already facing three charges.
The charges are malicious wounding, reckless handling of a firearm, and violation of a protective order. Arlington County Police say the third charge is because Abushariah had been ordered not to have a firearm.
Owner Jowan Aqrawi says he is outraged and feels the shooting should have been considered self-defense.
“4:30 am, three masked men entering your home where you’re asleep,” he told ABC7. “Put yourself in that position, and you’ll have a better understanding.”
Arlington County Police referred questions about why Abushariah was charged to the Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
ABC7 received a statement from Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti that read as follows:
“I cannot ethically discuss an ongoing investigation because doing so would not only risk compromising our work but also unfairly impede on the rights of the accused and interfere with the investigation. Suffice it to say, there is evidence we are not at liberty to share that support the charges, the decision was not made lightly, and we ask the public not to rush to judgment on what is very much a live investigation.”
Aqrawi says he bought two firearms a few weeks ago because he was concerned someone would try to steal from his store during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We bought protection for the store just in case, because on Facebook you see a lot of robberies, a lot of things going on,” Aqrawi said.
Aqrawi says Abushariah is a father of two children (who were not at the store at the time). He says Abushariah was staying at the store both to save money and to avoid the coronavirus, which had affected the complex Abushariah lived in in DC.
Abushariah is being held in jail on no bond.
https://wjla.com/news/local/arlington-employee-charged-shooting-robbers-owner-speaks-out