Alleged USA Chicken and Biscuit shooter now faces attempted murder charge
Aug. 2—The son of the owner of a downtown Manchester restaurant now faces an attempted murder charge in connection with the May shooting of a former employee outside of USA Chicken and Biscuit.
Last month, a Hillsborough County grand jury handed up the attempted murder charge against Dunbarton resident Zabayullah Qahir, 29. The grand jury also issued three first-degree assault charges against Qahir.
Police had initially limited the charges to first-degree assault.
Meanwhile, the victim in the case, Manchester resident Sean Brown, told the Union Leader he will not testify in the case.
Brown said prosecutors can rely on witness statements and Qahir's own statements to police.
Brown, who has several drug trafficking charges on his record, faulted federal prosecutors for a case stemming from a 2010 arrest in Nashua that involved a confidential informant. Brown said he never got the opportunity to face his accuser during trial, a fundamental constitutional right.
"They don't need me. Walk over his Sixth Amendment right like you did over mine," said Brown, who is Black. "Because he's classified as White, he ranks higher in a race-based society."
Shawn Sweeney, the first assistant attorney in Hillsborough County and a spokesman for County Attorney John Coughlin, said he cannot comment on the case, given its ongoing nature.
Meanwhile, one of the state's most well known criminal defense lawyers, Mark Sisti of Chichester, has taken over as Qahir's lawyer.
"There's a lot more to this case than meets the eye," said Sisti, who promised he will be filing future pleadings. "There won't be any secrets in what we're doing."
Already, prosecutors have turned over Brown's medical records to Qahir's defense team. They have also given contact information for Brown, but with the promise that they won't share the information with Qahir.
Qahir is accused of shooting Brown three times during the early evening of May 10 just outside his father's downtown restaurant.
According to previous news reports, Brown, 48, was a former employee, and the two got into an argument when Brown arrived to pick up his final paycheck.
During the argument, Qahir threw racial slurs at Brown, according to initial news accounts. Witnesses told police that Qahir entered the restaurant, retrieved a handgun and shot Brown three times, moving closer for the final shot.
Qahir initially told police it was self-defense. In court papers filed before Sisti took over, Qahir's former lawyer said he should be able to prevail on a self-defense claim even if he was mistaken about Brown, calling the victim "unpredictable and dangerous."
Brown has said he taunted Qahir before being shot, belittling his profession and banishing him from the hip-hop musical genre.
The attempted murder charge carries a sentence of life, but with the possibility of parole. Each of the first-degree assault charges carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
