Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Colorado

Man meant to be deported in 2016 sentenced to 45 years in prison for attempted murder of Colorado officer

Al Khammasi, an Iraqi refugee, was convicted of first-degree attempted murder in June

Brie Stimson By Brie Stimson Fox News
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for September 16 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for September 16

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

A Colorado jury sentenced a man convicted of shooting a Colorado Springs police officer and leaving him brain-damaged in 2018 to 45 years in prison on Thursday, according to reports. 

Officer Cem Duzel was responding to a shots fired call in the city's Knob Hill neighborhood in August 2018 when he ran into Karrar Al Khammasi who shot him in the head, according to FOX 21 in Colorado Springs. Al Khammasi had just been kicked out of an Uber by a female driver who said he was harassing her. 

Al Khammasi is an Iraqi refugee who was supposed to be deported in 2016 for a felony trespassing conviction but he was allowed to stay because of a change in the law, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. 

He was convicted of first-degree attempted murder in June. He was also convicted of assault on a police officer, menacing and illegal possession of a weapon, according to FOX 21. 

Karrar Al Khammasi was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Thursday for the attempted murder of Colorado Springs Officer Cem Duzel. 

Karrar Al Khammasi was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Thursday for the attempted murder of Colorado Springs Officer Cem Duzel.  (El Paso County/Colorado Springs Police)

"This case really speaks to the dangers that law enforcement encounter every single day,"  District Attorney Michael Allen said Thursday. "And it's not in the streets of New York City or Los Angeles; it's even right here in Colorado Springs."

CALIFORNIA SHERIFF'S DEPUTY KILLED IN STANDOFF THAT ENDED WITH 5 DEAD IDENTIFIED

Duzel went through months of rehabilitation after the shooting and was forced to retire from the force because of his injury. He has still not fully recovered. In 2019, he received the department’s highest honor: the Medal of Valor. 

"This guy is a hero, he stopped a threat that night, he stopped the potential of other individuals being hurt or killed by his courageous contact with an armed suspect," Howard Black, a 4th Judicial District spokesperson said, according to FOX 21. 

Duzel and his family thanked everyone for the support during his recovery over the last three years on Thursday. The former officer is now planning a summer wedding with his fiancée. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Today was a closure," his father, Mumtaz Duzel, said, according to the Gazette. "As a father, was it enough? Probably not, to be honest, but justice was served today."