Tennessee Clerk Found Guilty of Killing Teen Who Stole a Beer from his Store

Posted at 12:05 PM, August 19, 2019 and last updated 7:31 PM, June 15, 2023

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee jury has found a grocery clerk guilty of fatally shooting a teenager who stole a beer from a store and ran away.

Anwar Ghazali was found guilty Thursday of second-degree murder in the March 2018 death of 17-year-old Dorian Harris. A Shelby County Criminal Court judge is scheduled to sentence Ghazali on Sept. 23.

Investigators said Harris walked into Ghazali’s store in Memphis and left with a beer without paying.

Ghazali ran after him with a handgun and fired several shots, then returned to the store and told a witness, “I think I shot him.” Ghazali didn’t call police.

Harris’ body was found in the yard of a nearby house with a gunshot wound in his left thigh.

Ghazali argued that he didn’t intend to kill Harris.