Dustin Passarelli shot dead Afghan-American Mustafa Ayoubi by the side of the road in February 2019 after hurling racist abuse at him.
Dustin Passarelli was found guilty of murder in May, four years after shooting dead 32-year-old Mustafa Ayoubi, an Afghan-American, by the side of the road in the northwest of Indianapolis.
Passarelli followed Ayoubi off the main Interstate 465 and a verbal altercation took place, prosecutors said. Witnesses at the scene said Passarelli made several Islamophobic remarks and yelled “Go back to your country” at Ayoubi before opening fire.
The case drew the attention of the FBI and took place as legislators in the state of Indiana were debating new hate crime legislation. Six weeks later, they passed new “bias crimes” laws that some have argued are ineffectual in hate crimes.
Passarelli, who was not charged with a hate crime, told police that he followed Ayoubi off the highway to an apartment complex and shot him in self-defence after Ayoubi allegedly tried to punch one of his car windows. He also claimed to have PTSD from his time in the army.
The autopsy showed Ayoubi had been shot eight times – once in the shoulder from the front and seven times in the back. Police found no evidence of damage to Passarelli’s car.
Ayoubi had made his life in the United States after arriving from Afghanistan as a refugee.
After the jury found Passarelli guilty, Ayoubi’s sister Zahra, said justice had been served. She had previously described him to Al Jazeera as “kind, caring and very smart” and a “rock” for his mother.
“A soul so bright, cut short by hate, in the depths of night. He was more than a victim, he was a flame, he stood and put hate to shame,” Zahra wrote on Twitter.