A Man Accused Of Killing A 31-Year-Old Sitting In A Car In Front Of His Home Has Been Arrested

Terry Turner was booked on suspicion of murder in the killing of Adil Dghoughi outside his home in a small Texas town outside of Austin.

Terry Turner mugshot

A Texas man has been booked on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of a 31-year-old man who was sitting alone, unarmed, in a car outside his home.

The arrest came 11 days after the deadly shooting of Adil Dghoughi, prompting family and friends to publicly decry the lack of justice and information released on the case.

Terry Duane Turner, 65, is suspected of confronting Dghoughi with a handgun early on Oct. 11, then fatally shooting him through the driver's-side window. Turner found a car on his driveway, allegedly walked out with a handgun, and chased after Dghoughi as the 31-year-old rapidly backed out of the driveway.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by BuzzFeed News, Turner stood on the driver's side of the car, tapped the window twice, and fired once into the car, striking Dhoughi in the head.

"I just killed a guy," Turner told a 911 dispatcher after the shooting. "He started racing away and I ran after him. He pointed a gun at me and I shot."

Despite Turner's statement, however, police said they found no weapons inside the vehicle.

Details provided in the arrest warrant also raised questions with Dghoughi's family, who wondered why it took 11 days for police to make an arrest.

"They knew all of this," Dghoughi's brother, Othmane Dghoughi, told BuzzFeed News. "Why didn't they arrest him [then]?"

After the shooting, Dghoughi's friends and family said they were given no information about the case, the circumstances of his death, or why no arrest had been made more than a week after the killing.

On Oct. 22, Lt. Kyle McConnell told BuzzFeed News that Turner had turned himself in to Caldwell County sheriff's officials on suspicion of murder.

"Detectives have worked tirelessly on this case since the incident occurred on Oct. 11th, 2021," a statement from the sheriff's office said. "Detectives have conducted multiple interviews and executed multiple search warrants in the course of this investigation."

Adil Dghoughi

"We're not going to stop," Sarah Todd, Dghoughi's girlfriend, told BuzzFeed News after learning of the arrest Friday. "We're going to keep fighting until there is justice for Adil."

Despite Friday's arrest, family and friends continued to question why it took more than a week for authorities to take the suspected shooter into custody.

Dghoughi's death, and the ongoing investigation, also prompted concerns from family and advocates that it could be connected to Texas's version of "stand your ground" laws, which allow residents to use deadly force to protect themselves and their homes.

With no arrest and little information from law enforcement, officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Dallas–Fort Worth had been working with the family to obtain legal counsel and private investigators to look into the death.

Deputies were called at 3:42 a.m. on Oct. 11 to the block where Turner's home is located, where they found Dghoughi with a gunshot wound.

Officials said Turner "confronted a suspicious vehicle outside the residence" before firing into the car.

Todd said Dghoughi had left her relative's home, where the pair were staying the night, sometime after 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 11 to go back to her home. He then left after 3 a.m. and ended up in front of Turner's home, just a short drive from Todd's place.

It's still unclear why Dghoughi might have been driving early that morning or where he was headed. Friends and family believe he might have gotten lost at some point and was on his way back to Todd at the relative's home.

With Friday's arrest, Todd said, she hopes she and his family might get more answers soon.


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