A judge in Virginia is set to decide whether a man who shot an Alexandria police officer should be released from a mental hospital.
The hearing for Kashif Bashir is scheduled for Thursday before Alexandria Circuit Court Judge James C. Clark.
Alexandria Police Officer Peter Laboy was on motorcycle patrol in Old Town Feb. 27, 2013, when he tried to pull over Bashir for suspicious activity. Bashir shot Laboy in the head, then 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.
During previous hearings, mental hospital officials recommended Bashir stay in the facility. The former officer said he's worried that Bashir could be let out this time.
“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.
Peter Laboy said he heard from prosecutors that experts at the hospital think Bashir is ready to go to a halfway house.
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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.
