MANCHESTER, NH – A man accused of shooting a former employee three times last year outside a downtown restaurant is in the New Hampshire State Prison serving a 10 to 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree assault.
A jury was supposed to be seated Monday morning in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District in the attempted murder trial of Zabayullah Qahir, 30, formerly of Dunbarton. He also was charged with three counts of first-degree assault.
He was accused of shooting Sean Brown, 48, of Manchester three times outside USA Chicken and Biscuit on Elm Street. The daylight shooting happened about 6:15 p.m. on May 10, 2021, and was witnessed by many people, including customers of the popular restaurant. Qahir managed the restaurant owned by his father.
Judge David A. Anderson sentenced Qahir to 10-to-20 years on one first-degree assault count and gave him a suspended 10-to-20 year sentence on the other.
If he completes anger management treatment and commits no violent disciplinaries, five years of the minimum sentence will be suspended. Additionally, he was given credit for 365 days of pre-trial confinement, meaning he could be released in four years.
Had the case gone to trial, it was anticipated that the victim would take the stand and testify that he goaded Qahir into shooting him.
Brown, who was on both the prosecutor’s and defense’s witness list, would have testified with immunity from potential simple assault and criminal threatening charges in connection with the shooting.
At the same time, however, Assistant County Attorney Thomas J. Craig said if Brown took the stand he intended to try and impeach him on his testimony, saying what he told the defense differed from what was published in the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Attorney Brian T. Lee, who represented Brown, said the grant of immunity would prevent his client from invoking his Fifth Amendment right concerning that and other issues.
Craig said he intended to question him concerning an extortion claim.
Defense attorney Wade Harwood said early in the case the defense informed the prosecution that a third party had contacted Qahir on behalf of Brown to ask for money if Brown testified.
“I don’t think the state took any steps to investigate it,” Harwood said.
Brown in April reached out to the Union Leader to say that he had egged on Qahir to shoot him and that he was willing to testify on his behalf at his trial.
“I baited him like a Louisiana catfish,” Brown told the newspaper.
The defense took him up on the offer.
According to court records, Brown worked at the restaurant for only a week when he was fired. He returned May 10, 2021, to pick up his check.
Brown told a defense investigator that he sent Qahir a text saying he would be by to pick up his check and saying he “did not understand why he had contracted STDs once again,” a statement which was off subject.
After the text, Qahir blocked Brown’s text messages.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he tried to text Qahir to let him know he was waiting outside. After Qahir did not come out, and not knowing then that his text messages were blocked, Brown went into the restaurant and said he wanted him to come out and give him his last check.
When Qahir came outside, Brown said he started to insult him by saying that the Arabs were the ones that enslaved the Blacks, and they were the reason that slavery was predominant in the United States – that it was not White people. The conversation escalated, with Brown calling Qahir a “pussy,” and told him he was nothing more than a wimp.
By then, several people were surrounding them on the sidewalk and they were laughing at Qahir, Brown told the investigator. Brown said he continued to taunt Qahir, telling him he was a “wannabe Black,” and he wasn’t familiar with the hip hop movement. Brown told the investigator he had tried to provoke a confrontation. He said he wanted to “fuck with his head” in continuing to insult Qahir.
Qahir, who Brown referred to as “Kasim,” went back inside the restaurant, returned with a handgun and shot Brown three times.
Brown said he thought Qahir was going to get his check and he was excited because he thought he had pushed Qahir’s buttons.
“I provoked Kasim and he had lost it,” Brown told the investigator.
When Qahir came out of the restaurant, he had a handgun. “Go ahead and shoot, be a man, shoot,” Brown said he told Qahir who he described as having a look of total anger in his eyes.
Qahir shot him three times.
Brown said Qahir, who he believed wouldn’t shoot the gun because he was a wimp, proved him wrong.
On May 3, 2022, Brown reviewed his statement with defense attorney Mark Sisti and said there was one important omission.
He said he told the investigator he threatened Qahir by placing his hand in his pocket and acting as if he had a firearm as he walked toward Qahir in an intimidating manner. Brown believed that was why Qahir shot him.
Brown gave a different account to the newspaper. He said Qahir fired a shot after Brown “banished him from hip-hop.” He described Qahir as someone who tried to appropriate the hip-hop culture of urban Black, but could not live up to it.
