Christian man shoots Muslim

Jason Morton, Tuscaloosa News, 2/28/06http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060228/NEWS/602280341/1007[NOTE: A representative of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation is in Tuscaloosa to investigate the incident and to coordinate with the local community. Contact Deedra Abboud at 602-790-9319.]TUSCALOOSA The Council on American-Islamic Relations is looking into the possibility that a shooting on The Strip last week may have been a hate crime against a Middle Eastern man.Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, a Washington, D.C.-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, said CAIR becomes involved in cases that appear to have hate-crime motivations."If there were racial overtones in the original dispute that led up to the shooting, that would be of interest to us," Hooper said. "And we would want local, state and national law enforcement agencies to investigate it with a possible racial motive in mind." . . .The shooting occurred after an argument between a man fitting Gardner's description and Jassim Madan, the owner of the Quick Grill. Madan had caught Gardner urinating on the back of the business about 11 p.m., Thursday, authorities said.Chagri was present during the confrontation but did not take part in it, said Lt. Loyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.It's not clear why Gardner fired at Chagri, Baker said, although investigators believe that Chagri was Gardner's intended target."It appears, at this point, that he was retaliating over anger from the earlier incident," Baker said, "and I believe the person that he shot was the intended target."I'm just not sure that he knew who that person was while he shot into that car."So far, investigators have not affixed race as a motivating factor in the shooting, Baker said.However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigates hate crimes and offenses that deprive residents of their civil rights, has been notified."We are still monitoring the case," said Agent Raymond Zicarelli, spokesman for the bureau. (