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Was Liberty shooting a hate crime?Dec 30, 2009 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- On Christmas, the owner of a convenience store on Liberty's main street was working the cash register so his employees could have a holiday. The store's video camera showed Naushad Virani's last customer was Stevie "Bubba" Walder, a large man with a shaved head and white supremacist tattoos, who robbed him about 10 p.m. and then fatally shot him in the head, police said. As Virani, a Muslim, was eulogized at a funeral Tuesday, Liberty's Police Chief Billy Tidwell said he is investigating whether the killing was a hate crime. Tidwell and Liberty's city manager were among 200 showing their respects at a Pearland funeral home, while many of the 51-year-old Virani's customers left dozens of flower bouquets at the entrance to his store. Walder, 31, of Liberty was arrested near Woodville in Tyler Countyon Sunday and is being held on $2 million bond on a charge of capital murder. Probe requested With tensions rising over the attempt to explode a bomb on a U.S. airliner on Christmas, the Council on American-Islamic Relations requested the FBI and Liberty police to investigate whether there was any racial or religious motive for the killing. Virani left behind a wife and a 3-year-old daughter. Family members declined an interview, but issued a written statement thanking the Liberty County community for their support and law enforcement officers for their investigation into the death. "No words can express the pain and loss we feel. Our grief is compounded by the tragic circumstances that culminated with Naushad's untimely death," the statement said. Virani owned four convenience stores in south Liberty County but had his primary residence in Sugar Land, authorities said. Linked to racist group After the funeral, Chief Tidwell said he can link the accused killer to a white supremacist group, the Aryan Brotherhood, but does not yet have proof that this prejudice motivated the killing itself. "Walder did not say anything on the video about race before he took the money and shot Virani," said Hugh Bishop, the police department spokesman. However, Tyler County Sheriff David Hennigan said Walder used a racial slur when he confessed to the killing but "did not say why he did it." Also, he told one of Hennigan's officers that he had loaded another clip in his gun to fight his capture but when he noticed the officers that pulled him over were white, he decided not to use it. "But we think this is just his bravado, the way he talks," Hennigan said. "The flood lights were so bright from the five squad cars that he couldn't have seen the color of anyone's skin. Just the five shotguns pointed at him." Criminal record Walder also told a family member that he only killed Virani because he pulled a gun on him, but the video showed Virani was unarmed, Bishop said. "His style is to shoot off his mouth. Right now, he's threatening to kill the jailers and escape," said Bishop, who said area law enforcement has a long history with Walder. Walder has previous arrests for harassment, criminal trespass, theft, burglary and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. "If a hate crime is proven, it cannot enhance the maximum penalty that he now faces which is death," Bishop said. [email protected] To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Houston Chronicle Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |