JACKSON, Miss. --
The owner of a Jackson auto salvage business said a man trying to steal from him charged with a sling blade, so he shot him.
Masoud Bayati, the owner of M&B Auto Sales on Country Club Drive, said when he went to get a part Tuesday at about noon, he saw the man on his property. When Bayati told him to leave, the man charged him with the blade. Bayati said he picked up a shotgun he had hidden in the grass and shot the man.
"He didn't know I had a shotgun. He just came to me. He used his ax and came toward me and I told him not to come toward me, and he was so sure I couldn't protect myself, so he got closer and I picked up my shotgun that was laying behind the car," Bayati said.
The man, who was identified by police as Curtis Wright, 48, was shot in the leg and taken by ambulance to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
Bayati said he also had a pistol hidden in the grass near the shotgun. He said he kept it there because of the crime problems he’s experienced during the 15 years he has owned the business. Bayati also owns a similar business on Northside Drive.
"I had a hard time breathing. That don't happen every day," Bayati said. "I feel so bad for him and also for myself. I'm out of so much money trying to protect myself and seems like I can't get no protection."
Police questioned Bayati, but he has not been charged.
Once Wright is released from the hospital, he is expected to be charged with grand larceny, police said.
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