U.S. prosecutors have declined to file charges against a U.S. military service person who shot and killed Ramzan Daraev, a 35-year-old Chechen asylum-seeker in North Carolina in May after a law enforcement investigation determined that the service person’s actions were justified under state law.
The officer had "reasonable belief" that the unarmed man could pose a threat, the Moore County sheriff’s office said in a statement Monday announcing the conclusion of its investigation.
"The homeowner’s actions were deemed justifiable under the North Carolina Castle Doctrine, which allows for the use of defensive force in situations where there is a perceived imminent threat to personal and family safety within one's home or property," the sheriff’s office stated.
At the time, the incident raised the specter of espionage and sparked controversy over how journalists framed the shooting.
The shooting took place roughly an hour away from Fort Liberty, one of the largest U.S. military installations. Initial media coverage speculated that Daraev could have been surveilling military personnel. Daraev’s employer and family said he was conducting utilities work.
The latest statement by the sheriff’s office confirms Daraev was doing utilities work. But it also notes that he and his coworkers were without uniforms or special equipment, something previously reported by VOA.
The absence of criminal charges has angered Daraev’s family, who have for months been calling for justice in his killing. They are contemplating further legal action.
"I will continue fighting for justice for my brother," Roman Daraev, the victim’s brother, told VOA.
Unclear incident
On the evening of May 3, an unidentified military service person, whom media have identified as a U.S. Army Special Forces colonel at Fort Liberty, spotted Daraev on the property adjacent to his house on the rural outskirts of Carthage, North Carolina. The soldier believed that Daraev was photographing his home and children.
The officer’s wife placed two calls to police in which she described Daraev as aggressive and said her husband was having trouble communicating with him.
By the time police arrived on the scene around 8:32 p.m., Daraev lay dead from multiple gunshots fired at close range.
Coverage by U.S. television channel Fox News initially described Daraev as an undocumented immigrant and presented the shooting in the context of foreign citizens attempting to infiltrate U.S. military installations.
However, the Fox News journalist who reported the story later clarified on social media that, according to immigration documents published by Daraev’s family, he was in the country legally. The television channel subsequently deleted the story from its website.
Journalist Seth Harp has published a photo of a valid, category C08 work permit in Daraev's name. Such permits are issued to individuals who have a pending asylum application.
Utilities One, which described Daraev as its subcontractor, said in a statement that he had come to the U.S. "to escape the conflict between Russia and Ukraine."
In June, Daraev’s coworker, Kazbek Khazbulatov, told VOA that he and Daraev had traveled to North Carolina together with four other Chechen men residing in the Chicago area to carry out utility pole surveillance work as part of a fiberoptics project. They had a map of utility poles and were supposed to photograph them on their mobile phones.
Daraev was killed on a Friday. Their uniforms were supposed to be delivered on the following Monday.
New information
The information released Monday on the investigation reveals new details about the shooting but leaves several questions unanswered.
According to the sheriff’s office, business records indicate Daraev, despite not being in uniform, was conducting "legitimate utility work" for Cable Warriors, a subcontractor of Utilities One.
Recovered images indicate it was "common practice" for the group to work after dark, likely without notifying property owners –– something atypical for the industry, the sheriff’s office stated, citing the opinion of other unnamed utility workers.
VOA reached out to Utilities One for comment but did not receive a response. Contact information for Cable Warriors could not be found by VOA.
Local law enforcement also revealed that around 6:30 p.m. on the day of the shooting, a sheriff’s patrol deputy had encountered Daraev walking near utility poles in an "isolated field" a mile away from where the shooting later took place.
The deputy questioned Daraev and let him go because no crime had been committed.
The sheriff’s office statement also contains information about the confrontation between Daraev and the Special Forces officer.
"According to the homeowner, Daraev became aggressive and refused to leave the property, at one point asserting that he was a Chechen national who had served in the Russian military and fought in Ukraine, although investigators have been unable to establish Daraev’s prior foreign military status," the sheriff’s office stated.
The Daraev family disputes that claim. In a post on Instagram, "Justice for Ramzan Daraev," an account controlled by the family, called that information "an outright lie."
Roman Daraev told VOA that his brother had never served in the Russian military, let alone fought in Ukraine.
He said Ramzan Daraev left Russia with other family members for Kazakhstan in September 2022, after the Kremlin announced a "partial mobilization" of military reservists. From there, they traveled to Turkey, Mexico and, finally, the United States.
The sheriff’s office determined that Ramzan Daraev crossed the southern border into the United States on December 16, 2022.
After Daraev’s killing, police questioned his nephew, who was also surveying utility poles in the area.
The nephew, who asked not to be named out of concerns for his safety, told VOA that police asked him if Daraev had any possible ties to espionage.
"We said we aren’t involved in that. It’s not connected to us in any way," he said. "We came here to request asylum and protection in this country."
Open questions
Monday's statement provides a limited amount of information about what transpired before the shooting, including that there didn’t appear to be other witnesses.
Ramzan Daraev was on the phone with his nephew when the soldier approached him. Before Daraev hung up, the nephew told VOA he heard him ask in English: "What are you doing? What are you doing?"
The sheriff’s office notes that Ramzan Daraev was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops and was carrying only a mobile phone at the time of the incident.
But it also states that the confrontation between Daraev and the soldier "escalated when Daraev reportedly became agitated and lunged at the homeowner after repeatedly refusing to leave the property. The homeowner reported firing several shots in response to Daraev’s advance."
Daraev’s brother says it would make no sense for Daraev to attack an armed man. The family has long argued that Daraev’s wounds -- reportedly two in the back, one in the head, and one in the hand -- suggest he was running away.
They say they are still waiting for the chief medical examiner’s report.
Meanwhile, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office says its investigators are still trying to gain access to Daraev’s mobile phone. They also continue to evaluate the "operational background" of Utilities One and Cable Warriors and are "reviewing digital evidence containing electrical infrastructure maps related to the utility expansion provided to employees from a Russian cloud server."
According to the statement, the sheriff’s office has voluntarily kept all case materials open to the FBI and the Army Criminal Investigation Division. The former declined to comment, while the latter did not respond to a request for comment by VOA.
The sheriff’s office has also requested an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the work practices surrounding the incident.
