CARTHAGE — Nearly 12 weeks after a Fort Liberty special operations soldier shot and killed a utility worker at his home, officials remain mum on the pending investigation, and court records in Moore County show no charges have been filed against the soldier.
In a May 22 news release, Moore County Sheriff’s Office representatives said a Fort Liberty soldier shot and killed Ramzan Daraev, 35, of Illinois and originally from the Russian republic of Chechnya, about 8:30 p.m. May 3 outside the soldier’s home in the 1600 block of Dowd Road in Carthage.
The identity of the soldier, who serves under the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, has not been released.
Adsalam Dzhankutov, who identified himself as Daraev’s coworker, was located nearby and told authorities through an interpreter that he and Daraev were working as contractors for the New Jersey-based company Utilities One, officials said.
In a May 26 statement released on its Facebook page, Utilities One confirmed Daraev was a contract employee and was shot while conducting “pole surveys as part of an ongoing engineering design project for deploying fiber infrastructure” in Carthage.
Attempts to reach Utilities One were not successful as of press time.
Death certificate
A death certificate obtained by The Fayetteville Observer on Tuesday identifies Daraev as a cable installer who lived in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
The death certificate states that the immediate cause of Darvev’s death is still pending.
“Decendent as a potential intruder and was shot by (the) homeowner in pasture,” the death certificate states.
In a 911 call from the Carthage home, a woman told dispatchers her husband confronted an intruder on their property.
In another call, the woman said the person on their property was from Chechnya and was taking photos of her house and kids.
Utilities One said in its statement that Daraev emigrated to the United States from Russia to escape the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The death certificate shows he had an American Social Security number.
An online Change.org petition, purportedly created by Daraev’s family, claims Daraev was taking photographs on the property to show work he’d completed.
The petition, which has gained 12,668 signatures, seeks justice for Daraev’s death and for the soldier to be punished.
Moore County authorities have not said what, if any, photos were recovered.
A Moore County Sheriff’s Office spokesman told The Fayetteville Observer on June 20 that digital evidence in the case has been submitted to the district attorney’s office for review.
A representative from Moore County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday afternoon that DA Mike Hardin “was not going to be giving any statement at this time,” because the case is still under investigation.
An incident report from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office states that murder or nonnegligent homicide is being invested in the case, along with a simple assault and trespassing of real property.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.