A Somali immigrant has been found guilty of murder in connection to an Aurora marijuana robbery case in which the victim was bound, shot in the leg and left to bleed to death.
Zakaria Hussein Ali, 27, was found guilty Friday of multiple felony counts in the 2012 death of 38-year-old Carlos Muse, according to the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office.
Ali was convicted by an Arapahoe County jury Zakaria Hussein, of first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree felony murder, second-degree assault causing serious injury, aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and being an accessory to a crime.
On Oct. 13, 2012, Aurora police responded to a townhome in the 10300 block of East Jewel Avenue and found the body of Muse, his wrists and ankles bound with zip ties. The victim was dressed in his concierge uniform from his job at a Denver hotel. The coroner determined Muse had been shot in the leg and bled to death.
Investigators found evidence of a marijuana grow in the basement, but the plants had been removed. Ali was among a group of men from Minnesota who went to Muse’s home to purchase marijuana or rob him, the DA’s office said in a news release.
Once inside the home, Ali pulled a gun and shot Muse.
“Mr. Muse was kind and trusting,” deputy district attorney Valerie Brewster told the court during closing arguments. “He opened his home to outsiders, and they used that against him.”
In 2015, a grand jury indicted five men, including Ali, in the case. Two of the indicted are fugitives, and two were previously adjudicated.
