Army veteran pleads not guilty to killing homeless man in downtown Memphis

Memphis, tenn. – An American veteran who served in the war in Afghanistan did not argue on Wednesday guilty of the fatal shooting of a homeless man with an automatic gun in the center of Memphis.

A lawyer for Karl P. Loucks, 42, made the plea for a murder of the first degree during a hearing in Shelby County Criminal Court. Loucks also did not argue guilty of a worse attack tax when stabbing another homeless man in the center of Memphis, where Loucks lived in an apartment.

Loucks is held in prison without a band. He was arrested on May 31 When killing Shaun Rhea. Loucks’s lawyer has suggested that he was acting in self -defense.

During a hearing in July, A guard and a police investigator testified That Loucks Rhea attacked in the early morning hours of the day he was arrested. Tony Perry, a guard in a hotel in the center of Memphis, testified that he saw Louck’s Pepper Spray use on Rhea while he slept. Loucks also spray other homeless people that same night, Perry said.

After he was sprayed with pepper, Rhea Loucks confronted and asked why Loucks did it and “called him the B-word,” said Perry. Loucks took a knife out and Rhea took an electric scooter that was nearby and threw it to Loucks. He missed.

Perry said Rhea was angry, although he added that Rhea was not trying to be physical with Loucks.

Loucks then entered his apartment building, but shortly thereafter he returned with an AR-Stijl rifle under an orange jacket, Perry testified. Perry said different shots were fired.

Rhea, who had no gun, was beaten in the back, Memphis Police Sgt. Jeremy Cline testified during the hearing of July. Rhea died in a hospital.

The police were called and they found the gun and the jacket in the Loucks apartment, Cline said. During a police interview after his arrest, Loucks said that he acted in self-defense after Rhea had confronted him, Cline said.

Loucks was a health care specialist in the army from September 2007 to August 2013, according to a spokesperson for the Public Affairs army. Loucks served in Afghanistan from March 2009 to March 2010 and left the army with the rank of private -first class.

Loucks was honorably fired from the army because he was disabled because of the post -traumatic stress disorder, said his lawyer, Blake Ballin. Ballin said on Wednesday that he arranged a psychological evaluation to determine whether the mental health of Loucks will play a role in his defense.

Loucks has been that too charged with serious abuse After the police said he had cut another homeless man with a knife in the days before Rhea was shot.

During the hearing of July, Judge Bill Anderson said he couldn’t help it, but think that the experience of Loucks in the army could be a factor in the case during wartime.