Oklahoma Man Charged with Murder in Shooting Death of Khalid Jabara, Hate Crime Charges Possible
Authorities in Oklahoma are considering whether to file hate crime charges against a man accused of murdering his neighbor while out on bond on charges related to previously running over the victim鈥檚 mother with a car.
Khalid Jabara, 37, was fatally shot Friday evening outside his Tulsa home, moments after calling police to express concern that the neighbor, who had referred to his family as 鈥渄irty Lebanese,鈥� had a firearm and was a continuing threat.
Stanley Vernon Majors, 61, was arrested by police after what the described in today鈥檚 editions as 鈥渁 bizarre standoff involving bare feet and a six-pack of beer.鈥�
Majors, also known as Vernon Schmauss, is expected to be formally charged with first-degree murder when he is released from a hospital for minor injuries.
Word of the racially-motivated homicide is a trending topic on Twitter, .
鈥淭his certainly is a tragedy 鈥� but this is not a whodunit,鈥� Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker told Post, citing an eyewitness account and a history of racially-based conflicts between the suspect and his Lebanese neighbors.
Majors was released from jail in May and was awaiting trial on charges that he used a vehicle to assault Haifa Jabara, 65, last September. She sustained a broken shoulder, collapsed lung, broken ankle, broken nose, head trauma, and fractured ribs in the vehicular assault, a family spokeswoman said. Haifa Jabara obtained a protective order against Majors in November 2013 after telling a Tulsa County judge that he had harassed her and 鈥渋s very racist towards foreigners and blacks,鈥� the reported.
In response, Majors obtained his own restraining order against her son, Khalid Jabara, accusing him of harassment, vandalism,聽trespassing and blackmail.
Majors, convicted in 2012 of assault with a deadly weapon and聽making 鈥渃riminal threats鈥澛爄n San Bernardino County, Calif., 聽was arrested in mid-March by Tulsa police, accused of violating the restraining order.
At the time of that arrest, Majors is alleged to have used 鈥渕ultiple racial slurs鈥� and told Haifa Jabara, 鈥淔鈥撯�撯�� you and I want to kill you.鈥�
Veronica Laizure, Oklahoma Civil Rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told the Tulsa newspaper that the homicide possibly was motivated by anti-Arab or anti-Muslim bias, though the Washington Post reported that the Jabaras are Christian.
鈥淗e repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments,鈥� the murder victim鈥檚 sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, posted on Facebook. 鈥淗e often called us 鈥榙irty Arabs,鈥� 鈥榝ilthy Lebanese,鈥� 鈥楢ye-rabs,鈥� and 鈥楳ooslems.鈥� 鈥�
asked her Facebook followers to 鈥渟hare this FB post 鈥� so you can be outraged, just as we are outraged.鈥�
鈥淥ur brother鈥檚 death could have been prevented,鈥� the victim鈥檚 sister posted. 鈥淭his man was a known danger. He intentionally tried to kill our mother less than one year ago when he ran her over with his car.鈥�
Victoria Jabara Williams said based on the suspect鈥檚 previous racist comments, he should have been charged with a hate crime then [and] should not have been released without monitoring. Yet he was released and put back next door to us, the family he assaulted just months before.鈥�
鈥淭his is troubling at any time, but profoundly disturbing given the current climate of our country and the increase nationally in cases of hate crimes,鈥� she wrote.
