Witnesses describe shooting of Dorian Harris
The case against a store clerk accused of shooting and killing 17-year-old Dorian Harris, allegedly over a stolen wine cooler, moved forward Thursday as testimony was heard during a preliminary hearing.
The hearing will resume Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office said.
Anwar Ghazali, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Harris on March 29 outside of the Top Stop Shop store at 1127 Springdale in North Memphis.
Authorities said Ghazali chased and fired at the teen, then walked back to the store and said to a witness, “I think I shot him,” according to an arrest affidavit. Police said Ghazali never called to report the shooting or the theft.
Harris, who was shot once in the left thigh, was not found until two days later when a resident discovered his body on the side of her house about 100 yards north of the convenience store.
The case drew national attention and neighborhood protests. Activists and people who live nearby say the incident raises broader questions about the value of black lives and the role of immigrant-owned businesses in AfricanAmerican neighborhoods.
Ghazali’s defense lawyer says his client was born in Yemen and is now a U.S. citizen, and the store owners were also of Yemeni origin.
Preliminary hearing testimony
At Thursday’s hearing, witness Beverly Loverson said she saw the store clerk shoot at Harris.
On the day of the shooting, Loverson said she drove her son and grandchild to the corner store, where they often shopped.
She said she saw Harris approach the store with a large branch in his hand that he threw on the side of the business before going inside.
Seconds later, she said she was about to go inside the store to get her family when she saw Harris, with a wine cooler in his hand, run out of the store with Ghazali chasing him with a gun.
She said Ghazali — who she called “Omar” — chased the teen across Howell Avenue and fired “four to five” shots as the teen ran down the street and disappeared in an area they call “the cut” in the neighborhood.
She said she was standing next to Ghazali when he fired the first shot at the unarmed, fleeing teen.
Loverson said she shouted at Ghazali: “I said, ‘Don’t kill him, don’t kill him, it’s just a beer.’ ”
After chasing the teen and shooting at him, Loverson testified that “Omar” returned to the store and as she sat in her van she said she heard him say, “I think I hit his ass.”
She said she replied to Ghazali, “I hope you didn’t.”
After the shooting, Loverson said she left in her van and drove around the neighborhood looking for Harris. When she didn’t find him, she went home without reporting the event to police.
Two days after the shooting, she learned what happened to Harris after she saw police in the yard where Harris’ body was eventually found.
Witness Beatrice Pipkin described arriving at her home near the store on Saturday after the shooting. She and other family members followed trails of blood, then found the teenager’s body in their backyard.
She said she was shocked. She recalled hearing shots the Thursday before the discovery of the body. “But I’m always hearing shooting in that area,” she said. She said she didn’t leave her house to investigate.
Defense lawyer Blake Ballin showed surveillance videos from the store and asked Loverson questions about them.
The videos don’t show the shooting. They show Dorian Harris, dressed in a hoodie, throwing down what looks like a log in the parking lot, entering the store and leaving. The videos then show a man identified as Ghazali, the clerk, dressed in what looks like a white shirt and khakis, running after him.
Ballin asked questions that challenged Loverson’s earlier testimony that she was right by Ghazali when he fired shots. One of the videos shows him far away from her, eventually running out of camera range.
She said the gunshots were so loud that it seemed close. “It made me feel it was right by me.”
Yolanda Jones and Daniel Connolly