A Special Forces officer assigned to Fort Liberty who killed a Chechen immigrant conducting utility work on his property in North Carolina will not face charges after a three-month investigation into the shooting, law enforcement officials said Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

A Special Forces officer who killed a Chechen immigrant conducting utility work on his property in North Carolina will not face charges after a three-month investigation into the shooting, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

The Fort Liberty, N.C., soldier — whose name has not been released to the public — was justified in shooting and killing Ramzan Daraev, a 35-year-old utility worker, under North Carolina law, according to a statement from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office announcing the probe’s conclusion.

Moore County investigators determined Daraev was conducting legitimate utility work May 3 at the soldier’s home in Carthage before he was shot. But the Green Beret officer perceived him as a threat after he became aggressive and lunged at the soldier.

“The determination of justification is based on the reasonable belief of the homeowner, considering the totality of the facts known to the homeowner at the time of the shooting,” according to the sheriff’s office. “The homeowner’s actions were deemed justifiable 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.”

The sheriff’s office said it spent months probing the Dowd Road shooting, collecting physical evidence and interviewing witnesses. The Moore County District Attorney was briefed on the investigation and declined to bring charges in the case.

Though the investigation into the Green Beret’s actions has concluded, the sheriff’s office said it was continuing to probe the “operational background” of Daraev’s employer, Cable Warriors, a subcontractor of New Jersey-based Utilities One.

The sheriff’s office said the Green Beret’s wife first encountered Daraev at dusk on May 3 as he took photographs near a utility line on their property. She said she believed Daraev was taking photos of their home and children, which investigators determined were in the same direction of the utility line, which he photographed with his cellphone.

Daraev, at the time, was wearing a burgundy T-shirt, black shorts and flip flops and had nothing on his person to identify him as a utility worker, according to investigators. He was unarmed and only had his cell phone with him at the time of his death, the investigation concluded.

Utilities One said in a statement that Daraev was “performing pole surveys” for an engineering project to install fiber infrastructure and had been transmitting photographs to the utility firm. Investigators wrote they had confirmed via “business records” that Daraev was employed by Cable Warriors and working on a “fiber optic expansion” project for Utilities One at the time of his death.

The Green Beret told investigators that he initially approached Daraev unarmed and asked him to leave the property when Daraev did not identify himself or explain his business on the property. Daraev then grew increasingly aggressive toward the soldier and claimed to have served in the Russian military and fought in Ukraine, the Green Beret told investigators. Law enforcement officials could not verify whether Daraev served in the Russian military, they said.

Investigators wrote that the Green Beret returned to his home at that point to retrieve a handgun. His wife then called 911 at about 8:12 p.m. to report the suspicious person, Daraev. Just 13 minutes later, the wife made a second 911 call, “pleading for expedited law enforcement response” and warning she was retrieving a shotgun, according to investigators.

The Green Beret shot Daraev shortly after that call ended, just minutes before sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

The soldier told investigators Daraev “became agitated and lunged” at him before he fired several shots in response.

“Under the North Carolina Castle Doctrine, the homeowner’s actions are protected, providing legal justification for using defensive force,” the investigation concluded, citing the state’s version of what are more commonly referred to as stand-your-ground laws, which allow lethal force in defense of a person’s home and property.

Family members of Daraev have claimed the utility worker’s body and have said he was “killed in cold blood” while doing his job. They have demanded his shooter face punishment.

In a Change.org petition, family members said he had left Russia for the United States in pursuit of a better life “in a free country.”

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office said Daraev entered the United States via the southern border in December 2022 and had been living in Chicago. The sheriff’s office and the FBI have declined to provide Daraev’s immigration status.

Authorities said questions remain about Daraev’s employers, including a potential link to a Russian cloud server, where employees were provided “electrical infrastructure maps related to the utility expansion.”

During the probe, law enforcement officials found reports of other utility workers without any identification on their persons taking photos of infrastructure in remote locations in the area. They found the workers often worked at night without informing homeowners of their presence.

“Other workers in the utility industry told investigators that conducting utility work near dark on or near private property, especially during nonemergency activities, without identifying clothing and without notifying the homeowner is not common practice,” investigators wrote in their report.

The sheriff’s office said it would continue efforts to access Daraev’s cellphone to gather a better understanding of his work. Investigators were able to access some of Daraev’s images during the probe, officials said.

“Given the unique circumstances of the incident, the sheriff’s office has voluntarily kept all case materials accessible to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Army Criminal Investigation Division throughout the investigation,” the sheriff’s office said. “Additionally, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office has requested an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the work practices surrounding this incident to ensure all safety protocols were followed, identify any potential violations and promote safer work practices among utility workers.”