MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A U.S. Army veteran who served in the war in Afghanistan pepper-sprayed a homeless man and got into a confrontation with him before fatally shooting him with an automatic rifle in Memphis, a security guard and a police investigator said Tuesday.
The guard and the police sergeant testified during a preliminary hearing for Karl P. Loucks, who was arrested May 31 on a first-degree murder charge in the killing of Shaun Rhea, a homeless man who lived in downtown Memphis. After hearing their testimony, Shelby County Judge Bill Anderson said there was enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury for indictment.
Loucks, 41, is being held without bond on the murder charge. Loucks’ lawyer has suggested that he acted in self-defense. Loucks also is charged with aggravated assault after police said he cut another homeless man twice with a knife in the days before Rhea was shot. Loucks has not entered a plea in either case.
Loucks attacked Rhea in the early morning hours of May 31 in downtown Memphis, police said in an affidavit. Tony Perry, a security guard at a downtown Memphis hotel, testified that he saw Loucks use pepper spray on Rhea while he was sleeping. Loucks also pepper-sprayed other homeless people that same night, Perry said.
After he was pepper-sprayed, Rhea confronted Loucks, asking why Loucks did it and “calling him the b-word,” Perry said. Loucks took out a knife, and Rhea picked up an electric…
