Man Said Shooting Was Self-Defense; D.A. Says Murder

A man who told authorities he shot a neighbor in self-defense has now been charged with murder, the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

Chrysanthus Thomas, 25, was arrested Wednesday morning and charged in the shooting death of Amir Zekria, 23, at an Irvine apartment complex.

The Dec. 16 slaying of the Muslim outraged the Islamic community because Thomas was arrested but then released, and he was not immediately charged with murder.

Director Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope, which had staged several demonstrations urging that Thomas be arrested and charged, said Wednesday, “It’s a great day for the city of Irvine that they have removed a criminal from the streets.”

“I think this could have been done sooner,” Ali said, “but we are grateful that the district attorney has made the right decision. Now, it’s up to a jury to decide.”

Investigators said Thomas had an altercation with Zekria, a business student at Irvine Valley College, in the parking lot of the apartment where both lived, and Zekria was fatally shot. The two men had known each other for seven years and at one point had been friends, police said.

Thomas was arrested but released a week later, when police said there was insufficient evidence that the killing was anything but self-defense. That outraged Zekria’s family and other members of the Islamic community, triggering protests and allegations of corruption in the district attorney’s office.

Tori Richards, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said Wednesday, “Our position was that we wanted further investigation. . . . Our office had the Irvine police conduct numerous interviews. We looked into the backgrounds of both the suspect and the victim, and all of this takes time.”

It is not unusual in a murder case for the evidence to be investigated for some time before charges are filed, Richards said.

Thomas, an Army reservist, was taken into custody Wednesday at Fort Irwin, a military base in the Mojave Desert, then transported to the Orange County Jail and held in lieu of $250,000 bail. Arraignment is set for Friday at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.