MANCHESTER, NH — A city man was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison for shooting two men two years ago outside the Red Arrow Diner.
Aweis Khamis, 23, formerly of 53 Walker St., Apt. 15, could serve only six years, however, if he obtains a bachelor degree from an accredited education institution. He would also be eligible for a sentence reduction if he earns an associate’s degree.
Khamis was sentenced Wednesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District after he pleaded guilty to two counts each of second-degree assault and reckless conduct.
He was given a 10-to-20-year sentence on one second-degree assault charge and a suspended 10-to-20-year sentence on the other second-degree count. He was credited with 97 days of pre-trial confinement. On the reckless conduct charges, he was sentenced to time served – 362 days on one count and 365 days on the other.
Judge N. William Delker accepted the negotiated plea.
The shooting took place on Dec. 21, 2019 shortly after 2:30 a.m. When police arrived, they found Sifathullah Woodod, then 25, on the sidewalk, unconscious and with a bullet wound to his neck.
His brother, Zabayullah Qahir, then 28, was on the steps to the diner suffering from a gunshot wound to his right buttock
Medical personnel told police a bullet nicked an artery in Woodod’s neck and a “projectile” was recovered from his chest. The bullet that struck Qahir shattered two vertebrae and came to rest against the left side of his pelvis.
According to court records, that morning Khamis fired five rounds with one of the bullets entering the diner below a large window and missing a customer by about a foot.
The night before the shooting, Qahir and Woodod went to a bar called Elixir in Methuen, Mass., where they met Isaac “Tarzan” Velez, 22, his girlfriend Angelita Colon, 22, and Antwone “Stix” Cousins, 38. The group left the bar at closing — about 2 a.m. —and then met up at the Red Arrow Diner, 61 Lowell St. When his meal arrived, Woodod told his brother something was up outside.
They went outside, as did Velez and Cousins. Qahir said there was an argument between Woodod and two black men and that he went outside to be a peacemaker.
Video recordings obtained by police show Velez and Woodod smoking and taking photographs outside the diner at 2:34 a.m. before entering the restaurant. A minute later, Eddy Assani, 21, of 424 Cedar St., Apt. 1, entered the diner followed by Khamis. Khamis spoke to Assani while looking in the direction of the brothers. Assani and Khamis immediately left the diner and walked west on Lowell Street but stopped at the corner of the building.
Khamis took a gun from his jacket pocket, racked it and walked out of view. Cousins, Woodod and Qahir came out of the diner and walked in the direction of the other two men.
Woodod pushed Velez away from Assani and Khamis, and Qahir then punched Khamis in the face. Khamis fired the gun five times, striking the brothers and sending a round underneath the diner window, where Lucas Richard, 24, was seated at a table. The bullet struck the diner’s ceiling and ended up on the restaurant floor, less than a foot from where Richard sat.
Police recovered five 9mm Luger shell casings, four from the sidewalk and one from inside the restaurant.