The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/16/09 Section: News

YAKHOU [Click to enlarge]

Police incident report

A University student who was arrested during spring break after accidentally shooting himself in the foot said he was acting in self defense during a parking lot confrontation with Florida residents.

Amar Yakhou, a freshman from Milledgeville, told St. John's County police that beachgoers insulted Yakhou and his girlfriend for being from Georgia.

Yakhou said in a telephone interview Sunday night that he was acting in self defense, and chose not to comment more about the incident.

According to the police report:

A police officer arrived at the Cabana Club on Ponte Vedra Beach on Tuesday, where a security guard said he had notified police after he heard a "loud pop" in the parking lot and found a white male crouched over with a gunshot wound in his left foot.

Bystanders stated that Yakhou had suffered a gunshot wound to one of his left toes after previously pointing the gun at someone else.

Yakhou's injuries were not life-threatening, and he refused to go to the hospital for treatment, the report states.

Yakhou told the officer that he was on the beach "when a group of guys began to harass him because he was from Georgia." After arguing with the group for awhile, Yakhou said the group followed him to his car, where he pulled a gun from the vehicle in an attempt to frighten the group away.

Once the group left, Yakhou went to retrieve his girlfriend and his girlfriend's sister from the beach. Yakhou told the officer that when he moved the gun from the backseat, he accidentally discharged the gun and shot his left foot.

A witness said the group of guys walked by and told Yakhou that this was their beach and laughed at Yakhou, "yelling he got what he deserved," the report states.

One man said in a statement that he passed Yakhou in the parking lot, with whom he had spoken to earlier in the day. The man said Yakhou asked him a question, and then "pulled a shotgun from out under his shirt and aggressed him with it, pointing it at his face." The man said Yakhou loaded a round into the gun and commanded the man to call himself a "b----" as Yakhou pointed the gun at his face, according to the report.

The man stated that he did what Yakhou asked until Yakhou put the gun under his shirt and returned to his own vehicle. The man stated that "he was in fear of losing his life during the incident," according to the documents.

The man told police that he sought help as soon as he thought it was safe to after the incident.

Yakhou told a St. John's County sheriff's deputy that he did point a gun at one of the men but "because he was scared of what he was going to do to him," according to the report.

Yakhou was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He was released Wednesday from St. John's County jail on $3,000 bail.

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