Affidavit: Gas station attendant threatened, hit panhandler with gun

AUSTIN, Texas - A gas station attendant has been arrested after Austin police say he threatened and hit a panhandler with a gun.

Mohammad Muzammal Raza, 35, was charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

An arrest affidavit says officers were called to a Shell gas station off I-35 near downtown Austin for a disturbance with a gun call where a man had pulled a gun on another man. Officers arrived and detained the attendant, identified as Raza, and learned he had confronted the victim about habitual trespassing at the gas station. 

The affidavit says officers learned Raza had pointed a pistol at the victim and struck him with it during the altercation, but the victim had not assaulted or verbally threatened anyone. Raza told officers a pistol was inside the store safe. Raza gave written consent for APD to collect an unloaded 9mm pistol from the safe and video footage from the gas station's security camera system. 

The victim told detectives he was panhandling in front of the gas station and that Raza had come out and told him to leave. He said he and Raza yelled at each other and Raza swore at him. The victim said he pulled out a gun and hit him three times in the head, then Raza racked the pistol and pointed it at him, stating "I'll shoot you."

Raza told detectives the victim was trespassing and admitted to telling him to leave. He also admitted having a gun with him and removing the gun from the safe when the victim refused to leave the property. He told detectives he did not rack the pistol or point it at the victim and that the gun was not loaded and the magazine was inside the safe.  

A witness who was at the station pumping gas saw Raza outside cleaning up the front area and said Raza told the victim to "get off my property, leave right now, I have something for you." He said Raza told the victim many times to leave the property. The witness said Raza pulled something from his pocket and began poking the victim on the head and neck with it, while telling him to get off the property. The witness saw it was a gun and said Raza cocked the gun, at which point he yelled at Raza to "chill out".

Detectives also reviewed the security video which the affidavit says showed Raza opening the safe and removing the pistol, confronting the victim in the parking lot and lunging at the man with the pistol raised up in his hand. It also showed him pushing the pistol up against the victim's head and neck, then showed Raza putting the pistol back in the safe after the incident.

Bond was set at $15,000.