A Columbus businessman was arrested early Tuesday morning after he allegedly held a man at gunpoint near a business on Alabama Street.
Adelnagi “John” Musa, 49, who is well-known as the owner of United Deli and owns the building that houses Metro PCS, was charged with simple assault, which is a misdemeanor.
According to Columbus Police Chief Joseph Daughtry, officers were dispatched to Metro PCS, located at 114 Alabama St., at about 3:45 a.m. for a report of a business burglary in progress. Musa, who is identified as the owner of the business, was holding someone at gunpoint when officers arrived.
“A man was walking across the parking lot and (Musa) arrived and held him at gunpoint,” Daughtry said.
Musa apparently believed the man was breaking into the building after a motion sensor went off, Daughtry said. In the past burglars reportedly stole copper out of the air condition units there.
“Some kind of motion sensor went off and (Musa) just jumped up and went over there,” Daughtry said.
It wasn’t clear if the man Musa was holding was the one responsible for setting off the sensor, Daughtry said.
“You can’t just pull a gun on someone because you think they’re doing something,” Daughtry said. “In the time it took for (Musa) to leave his home and drive there, he could have called 911. … We don’t need innocent people who are just out walking having guns pulled on them.”
A supervisor on scene detected the odor of alcohol on Musa’s breath, Daughtry said, and he was arrested.
He was not charged with anything alcohol-related, Daughtry said.
Musa’s side of the story
Musa told The Dispatch on Tuesday afternoon that he’s been having problems with someone stealing copper from air conditioning and refrigeration units he had at the Metro PCS location. He had installed a motion sensor and a camera and captured images of the man he believed responsible.
“I put up a flier with his picture and an offer of $1,000 reward if someone brings me this guy,” Musa said.
Tuesday morning he got an alert that someone was behind the building.
“I can’t sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep for a whole month,” he said. “Last night my siren popped up, and he was coming in from behind the building.”
Musa said he hopped in the car and drove over to the building, where he found a man hiding behind a garbage can.
“I just got in my car, and I ran,” he said. “I got out of my car, and I told him I knew he was behind the garbage can and to put his hands on his head and come out. I tell you, I almost had a heart attack because I was afraid he had a gun and he was going to shoot me or something.”
Musa said when the police arrived, officers “took my gun and put me in the car and took me to jail.”
Musa was unable to say conclusively if the man he saw on the camera that night was the same man he had seen previously.
“If it’s not him, what was he doing back there with the air condition?” Musa said. “It could be him, or somebody else. … It looked like him, or his cousin or nephew.”
Musa said he didn’t call the police due to both frustration and the fear the police would scare the man off before he could be caught.
“I went to the police three times and gave them the thumb drive (with images of the burglar), but nobody did anything,” he said. “If the police come, they’re going to have a siren or a light and he’s going to take off.”
Musa, speaking to The Dispatch, denied he had been drinking before the incident.
Local Realtor Colin Krieger set up a GoFundMe to help raise $5,000 for Musa to replace the damage the page claims has been done to his property’s HVAC system. The fundraiser was posted some time around 2 p.m. Tuesday and had raised almost $6,500 from 109 donors by press time.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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