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Man convicted in Texas security officer slaying www.privateofficer.com
source:star-telegram — A 25-year-old Dallas man was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison Thursday in the 2008 shooting death of a security guard at a game room in east Arlington.
Jurors deliberated less than two hours before finding Kerry Michael Dronso guilty of killing Ali Ahmed Aziz, 42, a father of four who had immigrated from Iraq in early 2000.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so the life sentence was automatically imposed by state District Judge Scott Wisch.
The robbery and slaying occurred just before 6 a.m. Sept. 14, 2008, at the Bida L.A. game room on East Arkansas Lane. Aziz was shot as he and robbers struggled as he went for his weapon to protect himself and patrons, prosecutors Robert Huseman and Arthur Clayton said.
Arlington police arrested Dronso and Chris Lewis Money, 20, also of Dallas, a few days after publicizing surveillance video of two men robbing another game room.
Dronso was implicated in the shooting by fingerprints and multiple witnesses. His defense attorneys, Fred Cummings and Larry Moore, argued that Dronso did not kill Aziz intentionally. Prosecutors must prove intent to win a murder conviction.
The shooting occurred during a struggle, Moore said.
“The problem with robbery is that you can’t control the situation,” Moore said after the verdict. “There are going to be times when someone doesn’t do what you ask, but rarely does someone go into a robbery with the intent to shoot someone.”
Huseman disagreed. “He went into the location and committed a robbery and shot Mr. Aziz in the torso,” Huseman said after the trial. “He didn’t shoot up in the air, and as a result the bullet ricocheted and struck the victim.”
Prosecutors said that after Dronso shot Aziz, he went into the business’s office and took a filing cabinet that was being used as a safe.
Money was also charged with capital murder. His trial date has not been set but could be this summer, authorities said.
Police make arrests in security officer murder www.privateofficer.com
Police make arrests in security officer murder http://www.privateofficer.com
Two men believed to be the people seen in a surveillance video of an east Arlington game room Sunday have been arrested in the slaying of a security guard at the business, police said.
Ali Ahmed Aziz, 42, was shot to death 6 a.m. Sunday at the Bida LA Game Room at the 2500 block of East Arkansas Lane.
Police released the video to the media on Monday, and the images were used to identify the suspects, said Officer Zhivonni McDonnell, Arlington Police spokeswoman.
Also, a confidential informant helped with making the identifications, McDonnell said.
“That video helped a lot,” she said.
The suspects were identified as Chris Money, 18, and Kerry Michael Dronso, 23, McDonnell said.
Dronso was arrested Tuesday by police from Arlington and Fort Worth at the Howard Johnson Hotel in the 2000 block of East Copeland Road in Fort Worth, McDonnell said.
He faces charges of capital murder, with no bond allowed, along with Fort Worth warrants for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, possession of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, McDonnell said.
Money was arrested at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at an address in the 3700 block of Silveroaks Cluster. He was also charged with capital murder.
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