LAUDERHILL, Fla. – Newly released video is providing insight into a shooting outside a Lauderhill convenience store that left a man paralyzed from the waist down.
The store owner says he acted in self-defense and that the person he shot was belligerent.
The shooting happened on Christmas Eve in 2017.
According to police, the victim, Jason Morris, walked into the Kwik Pic convenience store shouting and screaming, and when he went back outside, he began throwing items at the business.
"He proceeded to throw something against the wall that created the sound of gunfire," defense attorney Andrew Rier said.
That's when the clerk, 29-year-old Saf Ahmad, came out and started shooting with an AK-47.
Police said that Morris told detectives that the previous day, a friend of his was severely beaten by employees of the store.
Ahmad was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm. But Rier said his client was in fear for his life and only fired because he thought he was being shot at, despite investigators failing to locate any firearms in Morris' vehicle.
"The case can be dismissed whether (or not) the victim is unarmed," Rier said. "That is not the test. It is an objective test as to whether the person who fired had a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm."
Morris was shot in the back and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Attorneys for Ahmad said they plan to defend him using Florida's Stand Your Ground law.
His next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.