DECATUR, Ga. — A man says his family's well-being has been ripped to shreds after he was accused of a crime. Ismail Rahmaan said all he did was try to defend himself.
It all started on May 13, 2017, after he tried to sell his dirt bike through an online app. He found a buyer at a Decatur apartment complex on Glenwood Road. What should have been a simple transaction, however, turned into a deadly gun battle.
"How was I charged with murder and I'm the victim," he asked.
Rahmaan told investigators two teens and a man showed up. He claimed one teen pulled out a gun and pistol-whipped him, breaking his front teeth.
"I started fighting for my life," Rahmaan said. "I took him to the ground, took the weapon from him, hit him in his head two times and stood up. I thought I had the upper hand at that time."
He said that's when the second teen tossed another handgun to the beaten suspect.
"When he got that weapon he started firing at me and I returned fire," he said. "I was hit twice in my leg and broke my femur."
Rahmaan killed the alleged teen robber during the gunfight. The other teen took the gun from his dead friend's body and stole the motorcycle, he said.
"I was on the ground bleeding to death," he added. "The third guy came yanking and pulling the gun out of my hand and they disperse."
Days later officers entered Rahmaan's hospital room. That's when his world was turned upside down.
"They said that I was charged with murder," he recounted.
In June 2017 in court, Rahmaan had to prove to the judge that he was the actual victim. His attorney decided to put him on the stand. He became emotional during his testimony.
After hearing the evidence, the judge decided to dismiss the case. But it's still haunting Rahmaan.
"It's been a disaster," he said. "I haven't been able to provide for my family."
Even a year-and-a-half after the judge dismissed the case, the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office kept him on their website as a murder suspect, which means any potential employer doing a background check is not going to hire him.
"My car is in repossession," he said. "My power gets cut off once every couple of months."
"I just want to be made whole," Rahmaan concluded. 'I want to get my record clean and be able to get back into the workforce."
11Alive reached out to the district attorney's office to find out why Rahmaan was still considered a suspect even after the judge dismissed the case. They said it was because they were still trying to see if they could find new evidence to take it to a grand jury. They never could so they dropped the charges.