A suburban Indianapolis Army veteran was sentenced to 55 years in prison Wednesday for the road rage shooting death of a Muslim man after witnesses said he hurled ethnic and religious insults at the victim.

Dustin Passarelli of Plainfield was convicted in May of murder and a felony firearm enhancement in the February 2019 shooting death of 32-year-old Mustafa Ayoubi.

Image: Dustin Passarelli Mug
Dustin PassarelliIndianapolis Metropolitan Police Department / AP

Passarelli followed Ayoubi off Interstate 465, and a verbal altercation took place, prosecutors said. Witnesses said Passarelli made several Islamophobic remarks, including “Go back to your country,” and used hate speech before opening fire.

Passarelli told police that Ayoubi either threw something at his car or collided with it on the highway and that after he followed Ayoubi to an apartment complex, Ayoubi broke one of Passarelli’s car windows with a punch.

The defense argued that Passarelli was within his rights to fire at Ayoubi because it was self-defense.

Passarelli was not charged with a hate crime. Six weeks after Ayoubi’s killing, Indiana lawmakers passed a hate crimes bill that included a provision allowing judges to impose longer sentences for crimes motivated by bias.

Ayoubi came to the U.S. from Afghanistan as a refugee.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Parody hitman website nabs Air National Guardsman after he allegedly applied for contract mercenary jobs

An Air National Guardsman was arrested and charged on Thursday after allegedly…

Senators announce bipartisan deal to help veterans exposed to burn pits

The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee announced…

Texas AG Paxton ordered to testify after fleeing home to avoid subpoena in abortion case

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton…

Racial-Discrimination Settlements Usually Came With an NDA. That’s Changing.

By Khadeeja Safdar Close Khadeeja Safdar Oct. 20, 2020 11:36 am ET…