Probe Calls Teen Slaying Self-Defense : Shooting: Family of victim says the district attorney’s investigation was compromised because the youth was shot and killed by the son of a judge.

The son of a Vista Superior Court judge fired in self-defense Aug. 20 when he killed an Oceanside teen-ager with four shots from a semiautomatic pistol, the District Attorney’s office has ruled in a case with ethnic overtones.

An investigation concluded that Raed Hamdi, 17, acted aggressively with a knife and had methamphetamine in his system during a confrontation with Christopher Mitchell, 23, and two others in an apartment complex.

“The shooting was justified because it was self-defense,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Rooten said Thursday. “The essential findings were that (Hamdi) . . . had a knife and he was advancing on Christopher Mitchell.”

Friends and relatives of Hamdi claimed Oceanside police didn’t fully investigate the shooting because Mitchell is the son of judge Franklin Mitchell and that Hamdi was an Arab.

Rooten’s report “found no indication of preferential treatment of Christopher Mitchell because his father is a judge, nor did we find any deficiency in the investigation because of Raed Hamdi’s Middle Eastern background.”

No criminal charges will be filed against Mitchell.

Rihab Hamdi cried Thursday as she defended her son, saying his death could have been avoided if Mitchell had used restraint and not fired.

“He had no right to shoot my son, even if he’s (Raed) drunk, no matter what he had (in his system), don’t take the law in your own hands,” said Rihab Hamdi, whose family members came from Jordan in 1974 and are now American citizens.

She said the outcome would have been different if Mitchell had encountered a white man walking through the apartment complex in the 2100 block of Via Robles that night.

“We are dark, not American. We are Arabic. It’s different if an American white guy was crossing. For him, it’s safe,” said the slain youth’s mother, who was stunned to learn her son may have acted under the influence of drugs.

“I will do all I can to clear my son’s name,” Rihab Hamdi said. “He (was) never in drugs before. It’s a shock to me. He’s a good boy. He’s not what they said.”

Rihab Hamdi is angry at Mitchell for killing her oldest son, one of four children, and she said, “I wish Mitchell will suffer the rest of his life. I want him to suffer like I’m suffering now. I want him to feel the pain I feel.”

The district attorney’s probe depicted a tense 10:30 p.m. encounter at the Oceanside apartment complex.

According to the report, Mitchell and his brother, Frank Mitchell, were telephoned by a neighbor, Christine Fowler, who told them a prowler was in the apartment complex and was walking back and forth alongside her unit.

The Mitchells went outside, Christopher armed with a 9-millimeter pistol and Frank carrying a .357-caliber handgun. They were joined by a third man, Mike Zugsay, who was holding a steering wheel lock bar.

They demanded to know what Raed Hamdi was doing there.

Initially, reports said Hamdi pulled out a long hunting knife, but it is now believed he had a Gerber knife, with a fixed, three-inch blade sharpened on each site, in a clip-on sheath in his back pocket.

During a tense 10- or 12-minute standoff, witnesses said Hamdi was aggressive and profane, acting in a boldly threatening manner toward the men he encountered.

One witness, Frank Deleon, told authorities that Hamdi “pulled out an object from his back then approached the person with the gun. The person with the gun then said, ‘Sir, please don’t come close to me with that knife.’ (Hamdi approached) three or four more times, but the last time he approached . . . it was at a faster pace, then I heard three or four shots.”

The district attorney’s report said Zugsay saw Hamdi “was advancing at Christopher, moving the knife across his body, when Christopher fired. He saw Hamdi drop the knife, and he also saw a clip-on sheath in Hamdi’s back pocket.”

Witnesses said the youth was two to six feet from Mitchell when he was shot, falling to one knee, then staggering to a Dumpster. He died an hour later at Scripps Memorial Hospital.

The report said Hamdi was “acting in a confrontational, aggressive manner and brandished his knife while moving toward Christopher Mitchell in such a way as to cause Mitchell to (be in) reasonable fear for his life.

“We note that Hamdi had methamphetamine in his system. His conduct on this occasion may have been exacerbated by this drug,” said the report, which found the shooting was “a justifiable homicide.”

However, the matter may not be finished.

Simon Mikhael, attorney for the Hamdi family, said the teen-ager may have been agitated during the incident, “but anybody with two guns drawn on him would be agitated.”

Mikhael also disputed whether Hamdi actually drew his knife from its case during the incident.

“We strongly believe he never took the knife out,” the attorney said. “He did take the knife out of his belt, but he did not take the knife out of its sheath.”

Family members have further insisted that Hamdi wasn’t a prowler, but was merely taking a shortcut through the apartment complex to reach a friend’s house.

The district attorney’s report cited a witness, John Luff, who recounted seeing the knife lying on the ground after the shooting and before police arrived.

But police found the knife in its sheath when they got to the apartment complex, and the report said nobody has been able to account for how the knife ended up in its sheath.

Mikhael said the Hamdi family is considering whether to file a civil suit over the shooting.

“I don’t feel it was justifiable,” Mikhael said. “All Mitchell had to do was put the gun away. His life was not being threatened.”