Man 'killed Arab neighbour and harassed victim's family'
- Published
Police say Khalid Jabara had called authorities just before the shooting
An Oklahoma man accused of fatally shooting his neighbour had a longstanding feud with his family, police said.
Stanley Vernon Majors, 61, is suspected of shooting Khalid Jabara, 37, at his home in Tulsa on Friday.
The Jabara family said Majors had repeatedly harassed them, calling them "dirty Arabs" and "filthy Lebanese," referring to their Lebanese heritage.
He also was accused of hitting Mr Jabara's mother with his car last year.
The victim's family said they were "outraged" by the incident and police had failed in protecting them.
According to a released by his sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, Mr Jabara had called police on Friday "stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen".
Police responded and left the neighbourhood without questioning Majors, and Mr Jabara was killed just eight minutes later while talking on the phone outside.
"The perpetrator was not unknown to us - he is our neighbour - someone whom we continuously brought to law enforcement's attention," Victoria Jabara Williams's statement said.
"This suspect had a history of bigotry against our family. He repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments," she added.
Authorities found Majors hiding behind a nearby tree after the attack.
Majors was taken into custody and is expected to be formally charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction.
Neighbourhood clash
The Jabara family said Majors had harassed them since 2013, when Haifa Jabara was granted a protective order against him.
She reportedly said he harassed her and "is very racist towards foreigners and blacks," .
He was arrested and charged with violating the restraining order against him on 18 March, 2015, but released from jail after posting bond.
But in September 2015, Haifa Jabara was hit by a car and left on the road with a broken shoulder, nose and other injuries.
Stanley Vernon Majors, 61, is also accused of hitting Mr Jabara's mother with his car
Police charged Majors in the hit-and-run, with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, public intoxication, leaving the scene of a collision involving injury and violating a protective order.
Majors was initially denied bail on the assault charge, but was granted bond in May after spending eight months in jail, according to .
Mr Jabara's family said Majors should have been charged with a hate crime after the hit-and-run incident.
"He should not have been released without monitoring," she wrote. "Yet he was released and put back next door to us, the family he assaulted just months before," the statement said.
"This is troubling at any time, but profoundly disturbing given the current climate of our country and the increase nationally in cases of hate crimes."
The incident comes after an imam and his associate were shot and killed while walking from their mosque in Queens, New York.