Muslims Demand Charges in Slaying

More than 250 members of the Muslim community gathered in the rain Sunday morning where a 23-year-old Irvine man was fatally shot by a neighbor in December to demand that law enforcement officials bring charges against his slayer.

Chanting “We want justice!” and carrying green and white posters, the protesters marched from the Woodbridge Villa Apartments, where Amir Zekria was slain, to the Irvine Police Department.

“My son Amir Zekria was unarmed. He did not have a gun, a knife or a weapon,” the victim’s father, Aref Zekria, said in Persian. “We want justice.”

The investigator in the case could not be reached Sunday.

Authorities are treating the Dec. 16 slaying of Zekria, a business student at Irvine Valley College, as a case of self-defense. But relatives of the victim and members of the Islamic community want Chrysanthus Thomas, 25, the neighbor believed to have pulled the trigger, to be charged with first-degree murder.

The rally organizer, Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. in Los Angeles, said his organization will continue to put pressure on the district attorney’s office and police until charges are filed against Thomas.

The organization is collecting signatures to encourage the federal government to get involved in the case.

Ali held a news conference with the victim’s family Tuesday in front of the Orange County Courthouse to draw attention to Zekria’s slaying and to lash out at what he calls “corruption” in the district attorney’s office.

He plans another demonstration later this week.

Thomas currently remains free of any charges in the shooting, which occurred outside an apartment complex at 10 Thunder Run in Irvine. He was arrested Dec. 18 on suspicion of murder but was released a week later because of insufficient evidence that it was anything other than self-defense, as Thomas claimed, according to the district attorney’s office.

The two men were apparently arguing in the parking lot outside of Zekria’s apartment when the confrontation escalated into violence, witnesses say.

Zekria later died from a single gunshot wound to his chest.

After the morning rally, the Zekria family, who emigrated from Afghanistan about 10 years ago, visited Amir’s grave.