A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier was justified in fatally shooting an “aggressive” Russian national photographing utility poles in his yard for a survey project, according to investigators in North Carolina.
The man who died was identified as Ramzan Daraev, “a Russian native from Chechnya who entered the United States across the southern border in mid-December 2022 and has since been living in Chicago, Illinois,” according to an Aug. 12 news release from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office.
Moore County is among four counties that include portions of the U.S. Army’s Fort Liberty, home of the 82nd Airborne Division and more than 43,000 active-duty soldiers.
Investigators say the early-May shooting was justified “under the North Carolina Castle Doctrine, which allows for the use of defensive force in situations where there is a perceived imminent threat to personal and family safety within one’s home or property.”
No charges will be filed against the unnamed homeowner, but the investigation is not over, the sheriff’s office said.
“The Moore County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to assess the operational background of Utilities One and Cable Warriors, the subcontractor for whom Daraev was employed,” officials said.
“Investigators are also reviewing digital evidence containing electrical infrastructure maps related to the utility expansion provided to employees from a Russian cloud server, which may provide further insights into the subcontractor’s activities.”
Details of Daraev’s immigration status were not provided.
He was killed near dusk Friday, May 3, after the homeowner’s wife reported seeing a suspicious man taking photos at the family’s “remote residence” on Dowd Road near Carthage, about a 60-mile drive southwest from Raleigh.
“She informed her husband, who was reportedly unarmed at the time and approached the individual to see what he was doing. …. Unable to establish who Daraev was or why he was on the property, the homeowner asked him to leave,” the sheriff’s office said.
“According to the homeowner, Daraev became aggressive and refused to leave the property, at one point asserting that he was a Chechen national who had served in the Russian military and fought in Ukraine.”
Two 911 calls were made during a 13-minute period, one reporting the man on the property and the second noting the family perceived a threat.
The shooting occurred around 8:30 p.m., when “the confrontation escalated,” officials said.
“Daraev reportedly became agitated and lunged at the homeowner after repeatedly refusing to leave the property. The homeowner reported firing several shots in response to Daraev’s advance,” the sheriff’s office said.
No evidence has been found of Daraev serving with the Russian military or fighting in Ukraine, officials said.
He carried an international driver’s license for a vehicle registered in Illinois, but otherwise had nothing to identify himself or his vehicle as being with a utility company, the sheriff’s office said.
“Daraev was employed by Cable Warriors, a subcontractor of Utilities One, and was conducting surveys as part of Brightspeed’s fiber optic expansion into the Carthage area of Moore County,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Other workers in the utility industry told investigators that conducting utility work near dark on or near private property, especially during non-emergency activities, without identifying clothing and without notifying the homeowner is not common practice.”
Because of the “unique circumstances of the incident,” the sheriff’s office is sharing specifics of the case with the FBI and Army Criminal Investigation Division, officials said.
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