Federal Jack
June 19, 2009

Video shot by a witness shows the hectic moments after a Miami Beach Police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Husien Shehada, a tourist from Virginia.

A crowd of people gathered on Washington Ave near 11th st on South Beach early Sunday morning, watching as rescue crews tried to save Shehada. They pumped his chest feverishly, trying to save the man but it was too late.

“He did not deserve to die at 29-years-old,” said Samir Shehada, Husien’s brother who was with during the shooting.

Miami Beach police say they got a call that two men fitting the description of Husien and Samir were walking around with guns. There was some kind of confrontation, and then the officer shot Husien. Samir says they were unarmed.

“They confronted the two subjects. During that time one of the subjects was shot by one of our officers,” said Deborah Doty, a spokesperson for Miami Beach Police.

“He doesn’t even own a gun! We were vacationing, we were vacationing.” Said his brother

Police will not say if they found a gun, citing an ongoing internal investigation and investigation by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office.

“We have to give our detectives the opportunity to complete a thorough investigation,” said Doty with Miami Beach Police

Police questioned Karpel (Samir’s girlfirend) and then arrested Samir the same night, accusing him of beating up his girlfriend. According to the Miami Herald, Samir’s girlfriend denies he hit her. The Shehada family just can’t understand how this all happened.

“He wasn’t armed, how can you shoot someone for no reason? I need to know the reason, we all need to know what happened and we don’t know,” said Husien’s cousin Najwa Ghannam.

For now, there are no answers. Miami Beach Police won’t even release the officer’s name while they investigate, though he is now on desk duty.

And now Samir’s final memories of his brother--a man who lived with their mom and supported her financially--are of him dying on the pavement.

“There was no hating him, there was no disliking Husien, you loved Husein (chokes up) that’s how it is!”

The shooting happened on Shehada’s last day of vacation. He had a return flight Monday morning. His sister says there was no reason to kill him.

“Husien never wanted to hurt anybody. Husien would never do anything bad. Husien was a wonderful person,” his sister said, adding that he was afraid of the law.

Miami Beach Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office are investigating this shooting. A prominent Arab rights group, The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is questioning whether the shooting was racially motivated. They say police asked witnesses whether Husein was “Arabic”, or if he was speaking Arabic.

Sources:

Myfox DC

CBS4

Miami Herald

http://cbs4.com/local/South.Beach.Police.2.1049315.html