SUGAR LAND, Texas – The family of a man who was shot by his neighbor last August is calling for an independent investigation of the Sugar Land Police Department, according to a family attorney.
“What the family wants is justice for Ozzy,” said Omar Khawaja, an attorney for the family of 29-year-old Ozzy Kazi.
Dolcefino Consulting, which was hired by the family to investigate the shooting, provided an interview with Ozzy and portions of police body camera footage to KPRC 2 on Tuesday.
Khawaja said Ozzy was checking out loud engine noises in his neighborhood when he walked across the next-door neighbor’s driveway on Aug. 1.
The attorney said the neighbor confronted Ozzy, pointed a gun at Ozzy’s head and shot Ozzy in the stomach after Ozzy tried to point the weapon down.
Police said the neighbor is a retired former Sugar Land officer who has not been charged.
“That’s the unfortunate circumstance here, is that this entire investigation was done by the very same officers who worked with him for many years and it’s very clear on the body camera footage that deference is showed to him,” said Khawaja, who said Ozzy’s family believes the neighbor should be charged.
Police are telling a different story about what happened that day.
In a statement, police said the investigation showed Ozzy entered the property of a neighbor who was sitting in his garage.
“The neighbor retrieved a firearm and told Ozzy to leave his property but Ozzy refused, entered the neighbor’s garage, and violently attacked the man,” the statement said. “A struggle ensued, Ozzy attempted to take the neighbor’s gun and the neighbor shot Ozzy in self-defense.”
“The facts, the video evidence, doesn’t bear any of that out,” Khawaja said in response.
Khawaja disputes the police statement, saying Ozzy was unarmed and doesn’t have a violent history with anyone in the neighborhood.
Police are requesting a misdemeanor assault charge be filed against Ozzy but the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office clarified that no one in this case has been formally charged yet, according to Executive Assistant District Attorney Wesley Wittig.
The DA’s office said it’s conducting its own investigation and plans to present the case to a grand jury in December.
The neighbor referred KPRC 2 to the police report and said he had nothing further to add.