The family of a 37-year-old Oklahoma man is struggling to cope with his murder at the hands of an openly racist neighbor.
Khalid Jabara and his family were tormented by the hateful, racist actions of their neighbor Stanley Vernon Majors for years. Jabara’s sister Victoria Jabara Williams described the treatment her family was subjected to in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon.
“This suspect had a history of bigotry against our family,” she wrote. “He repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments. He often called us ‘dirty Arabs,’ ‘filthy Lebanese,’ ‘Aye-rabs,’ and ‘Mooslems’—a fact highlighted by the Tulsa Police Department who also heard these comments from the suspect. The suspect’s bigotry was not isolated to us alone. He made xenophobic comments about many in our community—’filthy Mexican’ and the ‘n-word’ were all part of his hateful approach to anyone from a different background.”
The family’s suffering reached a peak in 2015 when Majors ran over Jabara’s mother Haifa Jabara with his vehicle, breaking several of her bones, fracturing her ribs and causing her severe head trauma. Majors was out on bond and awaiting trial on felony assault charges for the attack when he murdered Khalid Jabara last Friday.
“He killed our brother while awaiting trial for running over our mother, resulting in a broken shoulder, collapsed lung, broken ankle, broken nose, head trauma, and fractured ribs amongst other injuries,” Williams wrote. “My family lived in fear of this man and his hatred for years. Yet in May, not even one year after he ran over our mother and despite our repeated protests, he was released from jail with no conditions on his bond—no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing, nothing.”
Williams also made it clear that the Jabara family repeatedly reached out to law enforcement for help as Majors continued to terrorize and hurl racially offensive insults their way. On the night of Jabara’s death, he’d called Tulsa police to inform them that Majors had a gun.
“The perpetrator was not unknown to us—he is our neighbor—someone whom we continuously brought to law enforcement’s attention. Only 30 minutes prior to my brother’s shooting, Khalid called the police stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen. The police came and told him there was nothing to be done. Minutes later, the suspect murdered our brother with four shots.”
Williams closed out the heartbreaking Facebook post by noting that her brother’s death could have been prevented had police recognized Majors’ actions for what they were—a hate crime.
“Today, in our pain, we are also keenly aware that this is not just another murder to be added to crime statistics. Our brother’s death could have been prevented,” she said. “This man was a known danger. He intentionally tried to kill our mother less than one year ago when he ran her over with his car. Based on his racist comments towards us, he should have been charged with a hate crime then. He should not have been released without monitoring. Yet he was released and put back next door to us, the family he assaulted just months before. This is troubling at any time, but profoundly disturbing given the current climate of our country and the increase nationally in cases of hate crimes.”
Majors was reportedly found hiding behind a tree at a local library following Jabara’s murder when police arrested him on charges of suspicion of first-degree murder, according to CNN.
