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Both Sides Rest In USF Grad's Gun Trial

Photo supplied by U.S. Attorney's Office

Karim Moussaoui posses with a rifle at the range.

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2008

Updated: 04/01/2008 06:15 pm

TAMPA - Karim Moussaoui says he was invited to join Youssef Megahed last summer on a trip to South Carolina and other states.

But Moussaoui, testifying in his own trial, said he declined his friend's invitation because he had no interest in seeing those places. He decided instead, he said, to go to New York.

Megahed and traveling companion Ahmed Mohamed - both Egyptian citizens - wound up being arrested in South Carolina Aug. 4 after deputies there said they found pipe bombs in their trunk. They are facing trial next month on a charge of illegally transporting explosives. Mohamed is also facing a separate trial on a charge of trying to help terrorists by posting a video on the Internet in which he shows how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate bombs.

A few days later, Moussaoui left for New York, where the FBI found him and interviewed him for nearly four hours about Megahed and Mohamed, according to trial testimony. During the interview, Moussaoui told agents he had gone to a shooting range with Megahed and had taken pictures, Moussaoui and FBI Agent Steven Sorrells testified.

Moussaoui, a citizen of Morocco who was studying at the University of South Florida, is charged with possessing a firearm in violation of his student visa as a result of that visit to Shoot Straight Tampa. He could face up to 10 years in prison.

Until he was arrested, two days before his graduation, Moussaoui said he planned to return home to work in his father's engineering firm. Now, he said, he must stay in the United States to deal with the criminal case.

Both sides rested this afternoon, and attorneys are scheduled to give their summations Wednesday before the case goes to the jury.

The defense is arguing that Moussaoui didn't possess the gun in the legal sense because it was rented by Megahed, and they could not leave the premises with it. Moussaoui said he had merely posed for pictures with the gun because he wanted "a Kodak moment," a photo to remember his experience at the gun range.

Moussaoui said he never fired the gun, and had Megahed empty it of bullets before he held it.

But another patron at the range, Bobby Robinson, testified that a person in the stall next to him "wasn't practicing common firearms safety." Using the surveillance video, other witnesses, including Moussaoui, said the person Robinson was talking about was Moussaoui.

Robinson said Moussaoui was pointing the gun in an unsafe manner. "I felt like he was being playful posing for the camera" held by one of his friends. "I stated, 'You need to keep that pointed down range,'" Robinson said. "I got an eye contact with him."

Robinson said Moussaoui pointed the gun in his direction. Robinson became agitated and moved away, he said. He said he left the premises because he was upset about the incident.

Robinson said Moussaoui was shooting the gun in the range, "making a ptat sound, a distinctive sound."

But Moussaoui said Robinson was mistaken or lying. The noise inside the range is loud and patrons wear ear protectors, Moussaoui said. The sound Robinson heard could have come from somewhere else.

Moussaoui said no one ever told him it was illegal for him to possess a firearm. "All they tell me is not to work, and follow the law of the country," he said, "but I never knew this law they're talking about here. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not here to study the law. I'm here to study the computers."

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