The man who shot a Virginia police officer in the head five years ago will ask the court for his freedom next month.
Alexandria police Officer Peter Laboy was on motorcycle patrol in Old Town Feb. 27, 2013, when he tried to pull over a taxi driver wanted for suspicious activity. The suspect – Kashif Bashir – shot Laboy in the head. Bashir led police on a chase before he crashed and was arrested in the Mt. Vernon area.
But Bashir, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after trial evidence showed a voice in his head commanded him to shoot Laboy.
A long scar crossing Laboy’s head is the most outward sign of the shooting, but despite his miraculous recovery, he’s angry that while he still struggles with the lasting effects of a traumatic brain injury, Bashir will seek conditional release.
“I’m not 100 percent the way I was before,” LaBoy said.
Bashir has been living at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, but now his attorney and mental health officials say he's well enough to move into an apartment in Prince William County.
“Up to this time, I cannot even drive, so why am I suffering from what he did and now he's going to get out and walk free on the street?” Laboy said.
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Court documents show Bashir has already been making unsupervised visits, reportedly to a mosque and other locations.
Because of his injuries, Laboy had to retire from the job he loved. He said other officers have urged him to get the word out about Bashir's request.
“I hope that what I went through doesn't happen to anybody else,” he said.
He is most concerned about the impact of a release on his youngest sons — ages 9 and 11. He said they've already had a rough year as his marriage is ending, another casualty of his brain injury.
“It's time that we sit down with them and tell them he's probably going to get out ... and they are probably going to be worried about it,” Laboy said.
A hearing is set for June 7. The commonwealth's attorney is not able to comment.
