No charges will be filed against a Special Forces soldier based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, who shot and killed a Chechen man who was on his property doing survey work for a utility subcontractor, the Moore County (NC) Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday, citing the North Carolina Castle Doctrine.
As RedState reported in late May, Ramzan Daraev was spotted taking photographs of the soldier's home around 8:15 PM on Friday, May 3, and reportedly became aggressive toward the soldier when approached. When law enforcement authorities arrived at the home in the Carthage area they found Daraev's body approximately 250 yards from the roadway, along a powerline on the property.
At the time of the initial report, there were several red flags in the information reported by the Sheriff's Office:
- Daraev was not in possession of any utility equipment, utility clothing, or identification.
- The only identifying document found was Daraev's international driver's license, which was on his car and not on his person.
- Daraev was working at dusk on a Friday night, without notifying the homeowner of his presence.
There are additional red flags and interesting bits of information in the (long) press release from MCSO:
- Daraev was first spotted by the soldier/homeowner's wife, who reported that he was taking pictures near their residence while she was outside with their children.
- The homeowner, unarmed, approached Daraev to ask what he was doing, then asked him to leave.
- Darev became aggressive, refused to leave, and said he was a Chechen who'd fought in Ukraine for the Russian military.
- Two calls were made from the home to 911; approximately 20 minutes elapsed between the time of the first call and the shooting.
- After the first 911 call the homeowner went inside his home to get a handgun for safety, then went back outside to keep an eye on Daraev until law enforcement arrived.
- After the second 911 call (13 minutes after the first) Daraev lunged at the homeowner several times, and the homeowner fired multiple shots at Daraev.
- Whether on his person or in his vehicle, the only items Daraev had with him were his international drivers license and his cell phone.
- Daraev was wearing black shorts, a burgundy t-shirt, and flip flops at the time he died.
- Daraev was driving his personal vehicle, a Chevrolet Spark.
- Daraev entered the United States through the southern border in December, 2022.
- Daraev had an encounter with a patrol deputy about two hours before he was shot, but as Daraev wasn't doing anything illegal he was not detained.
- Investigators (including federal and military agencies) have not been able to access Daraev's phone.
- Daraev was working with Cable Warriors, a subcontractor of Utilities One, as part of Brightspeed's fiberoptic project in Moore County.
- Among the digital evidence: electrical infrastructure maps related to the utility expansion provided to employees from a Russian cloud server.
From the Moore County Sheriff's Office announcement:
On the evening of May 3, at dusk, the homeowner’s wife, while outside with their children, observed an unidentified individual, later identified as Ramzan Daraev, taking photographs near their remote residence. She informed her husband, who was reportedly unarmed at the time and approached the individual to see what he was doing. Given the remote location of their property, the presence of an unknown person taking photographs raised significant security concerns. Unable to establish who Daraev was or why he was on the property, the homeowner asked him to leave. 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, although investigators have been unable to establish Daraev’s prior foreign military status. The homeowner reported that he then went to his residence and retrieved a handgun before returning to ensure his family's safety until law enforcement arrived.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the homeowner's wife called 911 at 8:12 PM and reported that there was a suspicious person on the property who had become aggressive when her husband asked him to leave. Sheriff's Deputies were responding to a life-threatening emergency nearby that was not related to this incident, so they weren't able to immediately respond.
Daraev became increasingly aggressive while the homeowner was waiting for law enforcement, and the wife called again at 8:25 PM. During that call, she pleaded for "expedited law enforcement response," according to the press release, and her husband could be heard yelling at her asking for that expedited response. The wife "secured a rifle during one of the calls, reflecting the perceived level of threat."
The shooting happened shortly after that second call. Daraev "lunged several times" at the homeowner and the homeowner fired shots in response to that, the release states.
It gets a lot more interesting and nerve-wracking.
Authorities found Daraev's vehicle, a Chevrolet Spark registered to Daraev at his Chicago address, parked along the road. There was nothing identifying Daraev as a utility worker in the vehicle, and no equipment save for the cell phone in Daraev's possession, which he was using to take photos. Daraev was wearing black shorts, a burgundy t-shirt, and flip-flops at the time he was shot.
There was a second vehicle located near Daraev's, belonging to Adsalam Dzhankutov from Illinois, a co-worker of Daraev's. Dzhankutov was also performing utility work in the area.
Business records indicate that Daraev was conducting legitimate utility work in the area at the time, although there was nothing on his person or in his vehicle indicating that he was conducting utility work. 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. Additionally, maps obtained related to Daraev's intended work area included a power pole approximately 115 feet from the residence, consistent with where the homeowner reported first seeing Daraev. Other recovered images indicated that it was common practice for this group to conduct utility work after dark with no evidence that any property owners were notified. 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.
Business records obtained by RedState reveal that Cable Warriors was incorporated in late 2022 in New Jersey by Silvia Midari, whose prior job history includes a stint as a cashier at the Pantry Store and Arnold's Restaurant on Cape Cod. While Midari lists her title as "Business Development Specialist" on LinkedIn, incorporation documents show her as the CEO and sole shareholder.
Midari's LinkedIn profile also reveals a six-year gap between her employment in Eastern Europe with a translation company immediately prior to her relocation to New Jersey and the founding of Cable Warriors.
Utilities One, the main contractor, is also tied to Eastern Europe. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reported in May:
Utilities One [is] a foreign-registered New Jersey-based company founded in 2016 by a young CEO from Moldova, who founded the firm three years after moving to the U.S. and working as a dishwasher and selling ice in Alaska. The company was incorporated on December 20th, 2023.
The company's vice president of fulfillment and infrastructure is from Russia as well.
About an hour and a half before his encounter with the residents of the Dowd Road address, Daraev had been stopped by a Sheriffs Deputy:
"[W]alking along power poles near an isolated field less than a mile from where the Dowd Road incident later occurred. The deputy observed a vehicle registered to Daraev, parked nearby and partially in the roadway. Using a language translation app, the deputy questioned Daraev about his activities and requested that he move his vehicle. Daraev provided his international driver's license and explained that he was conducting utility work, although he had no utility attire. Finding no apparent violation of law, the deputy documented the encounter through dispatchers and released Daraev."
Moore County authorities confirmed that Daraev is a "Russian native from Chechnya" who entered the United States in December, 2022 through the southern border. Daraev's family maintains that he came legally and produced a work permit to a Rolling Stone reporter. But if he was coming from Eastern Europe legally, why come through the southern border?
In their investigation, MCSO found yet another connection with Russia (emphasis mine):
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. 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. Efforts to access Daraev’s cellular phone continue in effort to fully understand his activities and the nature of any photographs taken. Some images Daraev uploaded to a shared directory have been obtained, and analysis is ongoing.
MCSO has reported the case to OSHA for investigation of any potential violations. Sending employees out to survey at dusk, without any type of identifying information, without notifying homeowners beforehand, and without proper clothing and footwear sure seems like a bad and dangerous way to do business.
After the first reports of Daraev's death went national in late May, Utilities One posted a long statement on Facebook claiming that Daraev was an oppressed refugee who fled to the United States to escape the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. They've been silent since the announcement that no charges will be brought against the soldier.