Texas man is charged with killing Afghan refugee who fought alongside Green Berets
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The murder charges were brought three months after the fatal shooting of Abdul Rahman Waziri. But for reasons his family can't understand, the suspect hasn't been arrested.

A Texas man has been charged with murder in the killing of an Afghan father who spent years fighting alongside U.S. Green Berets in Afghanistan.

The suspect, Katia Trevon Bougere, 31, was charged with shooting Abdul Rahman Waziri, also 31, in a dispute over parking in Houston. But Bougere hasn’t been arrested. Instead, he received a summons to appear in court next week, as if it were a traffic violation.

It’s the latest bizarre turn in a case that has sparked protests in Houston and prompted Green Berets to write letters to public officials demanding justice for their fallen former comrade.

“This indictment is just the beginning of the justice the Waziri family deserves,” said their attorney, Omar Khawaja.

“A husband and father was senselessly killed, and while we are grateful the grand jury returned a murder charge, it is outrageous that the man accused of taking his life is being allowed to appear by summons — not arrested, not handcuffed, not treated like the violent offender he is alleged to be.”

Asked why prosecutors didn’t issue an arrest warrant, a spokeswoman for the Harris County district attorney’s office responded with a brief statement.

“After a grand jury indicted the defendant, the clerk’s office issued a summons and he’s required to appear in court,” the statement read.

Efforts to reach Bougere were not successful, and it was not immediately clear if he had hired an attorney.

For five years, Waziri served in an elite unit tasked with helping to protect Green Berets in Afghanistan. He made it to the U.S. in 2021 and settled in Houston with his wife and two young daughters, only to be gunned down outside his apartment complex, Houston police said.

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      In 2020, he filed paperwork in Texas to launch a company called Black Kartier Militia LLC, according to state records. No other information was immediately available.

      And

      Eddie Cortes, a veteran defense attorney in Houston who has no connection to this case, said it is an unusual course of action but it typically comes down to whether the defendant has hired a lawyer who is known to prosecutors.

      “They’re not going to do this with somebody who is just Joe Blow off the street,” said Cortes. “But they will if the guy has counsel, and he’s a well-respected longtime defense attorney here in town.”