On a spring night in a luxury Brickell condo, an internet entrepreneur named Haider Rana was watching tv with an exotic dancer after a day at the pool. They heard a noise Rana went to the front door with his gun.
There was a shot fired. Someone died in the doorway.
The person was not an invader according to Miami-Dade prosecutors. According to investigators, Rana shot and killed 25-year-old Maame Amuah, a woman who lived across the street and was in a romantic relationship with him.
Rana was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm, rejecting a self-defense claim, and he told detectives that an unknown person crouched down and hid from the peephole. According to an arrest warrant, Amuah called Rana all day and wanted to hang out with him.
My daughter was going to come. Her mother said that she had been calling for him for two days. My daughter kept texting and calling. There was a girl in the room with him.
The use of deadly force was not justified, according to Jackson-Manu. It was someone else at the door. The person is a delivery person. Maybe it was a security guard. It could have been a neighbor who needed assistance.
Rana was arrested on Friday. He was held with no bond pending trial. There is no defense attorney listed in the court records.
The case will be a test of Florida's controversial self-defense law, which critics have long contended fosters vigilante justice and allows killers to get away with murder as long as they claim they were in fear for their lives
The law made it easier for judges to dismiss self-defense cases. Despite objections from state attorneys across Florida, lawmakers have expanded the law and made it harder for prosecutors to prove self-defense.
The law eliminated a citizen's duty to retreat before he or she could use lethal force.
Many killers escape prosecution for shooting people over perceived threats because of that. Two men were shot and killed outside a Northwest Miami-Dade Chili's restaurant by a man who claimed he was afraid of the man's karate skills.
Another part of the law may be tested in Rana's case.
Lawmakers in 2005 fortified the law's existing "Castle Doctrine" to give a resident a "presumption of death or great bodily harm."
The provision of the law forced prosecutors to drop a murder case against a teen who shot and killed an innocent person through a window, even though the teen had already left the house. It was a factor in the decision not to charge the teenager who shot and killed the young man who was stealing a WaveRunner outside his home.
Amuah moved to the U.S. in 2016 from his native country of Ghana. She moved to Miami to be near her brother. She worked in both the fashion and beauty industries. She only saw Rana for a short time.
Rana and Amuah owned businesses across the street from each other. Soon the relationship became intimate. He claimed they were friends with benefits.
According to police records, Rana ran an internet app called "The Plug Delivery" which promised to deliver marijuana and alcohol to customers.
Amuah's mother was concerned about his businesses. Jackson-Manu told her to be careful about the man.
Rana was in a romantic relationship with a stripper named Abi-Gail Dwyer, whom he met at the King of Diamonds club. Rana invited her to a boat party in early May and to his building's pool on the day of the shooting.
After the pool, Rana and Dwyer shared drinks and smoked marijuana in his seventh floor unit at the Caoba Apartments.
She told police that she heard a light knock on the door. Rana didn't open the door. According to the warrant, Rana said, "Maybe it is the television"
Five minutes later there was a louder knock. Rana grabbed the gun that was lying on the table and walked towards the door. According to the warrant, Rana opened the door and heard the sound of a gun.
Rana told detectives that he didn't see anyone in the peephole. He realized that someone was under the peephole when he opened the door.
According to the warrant, he claimed that the person forced him to fire. He said that after the person fell he realized it was Amuah. Rana had been free for over a year while the investigation continued.
Rana thought it was Amuah at the door that night, according to police and prosecutors.
Rana admitted to Miami police that Amuah had been calling him frequently and that she wanted to see him. Amuah had called him 18 times in the 24 hours before the shooting, according to cell phone records. He sent her a text several hours before the shooting saying he loved her.
Amuah wasn't believed to be crouching down by investigators. According to the warrant, the path of the bullet was not downward and that the muzzle of the gun had to be level with her neck wound.
Rana said he didn't believe Amuah could have a weapon.
The subject admitted that he didn't hear the victim say anything or see a weapon in her hand.
She said she was happy that Rana was arrested.
Jackson-Manu said that he had a hole in his heart. My daughter needs justice so she can rest. She wasn't deserving of that. She died for nothing.
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