Khalid Jabara, Arab Christian in Oklahoma shot dead by neighbor, saved others as he was dying

Khalid Jabara, the Arab Christian gunned down by his prejudiced neighbor in Oklahoma, managed to save others' lives even as he died.

Khalid saved his family's lives before he succumbed Aug. 12 to gunshot wounds on the abdomen on the front porch of their family home at the hands of their 61-year-old next-door neighbor Stanley Vernon Majors.

Haifa Jabara, Khalid's mother, said she was at a friend's house when Khalid called her and told her to stay away from the house.

"He called me and said, 'Mom, stay where you are — this guy we learned has a gun. Please stay away!'" Haifa told Tulsa World in an interview.

Haifa also believed that Khalid saved his father's life, Mounah Jabara, who lay in poor health condition inside the house, by preventing Majors from getting in.

Tania Jabara, Khalid's first cousin, also attested that Khalid saved a neighbor woman's life by repeatedly telling her to go away when she came upon the scene.

"He saved my life. Because if I came, definitely he would shoot me because he tried to kill me," she said.

She referred to the incident back in September last year when Majors ran over her with his car as she strolled along the neighborhood. Haifa sustained major injuries and spent weeks in the hospital.

The court charged Majors with felony assault and initially detained him, but a judge released him without bond until his trial slated March 2017.

"Our brother's death could have been prevented," Crux quoted Victoria Jabara Williams, Khalid's older sister, as saying. "This man was a known danger."

Majors reportedly harassed the Lebanese-American Orthodox Christian family by calling them "dirty Arabs," "filthy Lebanese," "Aye-rabs" and "Mooslems," even when they're not Muslims.

Williams resented the fact that the court released Majors with "no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing, nothing."

Khalid also called 911 two hours before the shooting incident. The Tulsa Police arrived but did nothing. Majors started the attack as soon as the police left.

"Here, in the United States, Mr. Jabara and his family became targets of violence and hatred not because of their faith, but because of their Middle Eastern identity and culture," said Kirsten Evans, executive director for In Defense of Christians (IDC), in a press release Aug. 17.

"Sadly, Middle Eastern Christians caught in the crossfire of the sectarian conflict plaguing the Middle East have also become vulnerable scapegoats for hatred and violence born of political and cultural tensions here in the United States."