Store Clerk Pleads Guilty To Murdering Customer With Crowbar
SOUTH MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – A store clerk who struck a belligerent customer with a crowbar, killing him, pleaded guilty to manslaughter Friday.
After Ragheb Sulaiman, 26, serves seven years in prison, he will be on probation for five years. He will also pay $12,000 in restitution and be deported back to Israel.
Rubye Mosley is the mother of the 34-year-old victim, Akil LaRue Oliver. Mosley said that she worked with the prosecutors and defense attorney to come up with the plea deal. She said she found forgiveness in her heart with the help of her Pastor Alphonso Jackson.
At court Friday, Oliver's family members wore shirts with Akil's image.
Sulaiman was initially charged with second-degree murder in November 2010 after police said he hit Akil LaRue Oliver at the Quick Shop Food Store, 9720 SW 168th St.
Oliver, angered because he thought the store owner "owed him a small amount of money,'' hurled racial insults and expletives at the store clerks, according to an arrest affidavit.
Store customers, including an off-duty Miami-Dade corrections officer, tried to calm Oliver down. Still angry, he left the store.
But Oliver later came back, continuing to yell at the clerks. Sulaiman's brother, Nabil Sulaiman, hit Oliver with a bottle, according to police.
As Oliver tried to defend himself, Ragheb Sulaiman picked up a crowbar, smashing Oliver on the head, the arrest report said. Oliver died at the store. Store surveillance cameras captured part of the fight.
Nabil Sulaiman, charged with aggravated battery, fled the country and is considered a fugitive.
