Wife recounts shooting victim's last farewell

Mukhtar Ahmad kissed his kids on the forehead Wednesday morning; he said he'd see them for dinner then climbed into his SUV and left for work.

Minutes later, as Ahmad drove along the interstate, another motorist — a stranger, with a history of mental illness and in the midst of a divorce — allegedly pulled out a gun and fired several shots at Ahmad's car.

He careened into the median and crashed into a guardrail. Ahmad, a husband and father of three, died in the driver's seat of a single gunshot wound to his torso.

"He was the kind of guy who carried his heart in his hands," said his wife, Shamy Nabil. "I am grateful for my faith. I know we are all going to die, one way or another. I just didn't expect it to be this soon, I didn't expect it to be like this."

Police have described the incident as a random act of road rage. Ahmad had no connection to the man accused of killing him, 43-year-old Christopher McCullum, an unlicensed electrician arrested five months ago with four loaded handguns, two rifles, a crossbow and marijuana, according to court records.

It remains a mystery how the two men came into contact on southbound Interstate 71.

Ahmad, who owned a convenience store on West Market Street in the Russell neighborhood, was an immigrant from Pakistan and his death has jarred the small, tight-knit community in Louisville. His brother had to call home, in the middle of the night in Pakistan, and break the news to his elderly mother, said attorney and family friend, Khalid Kahloon.

"The confusion, the fear, has traveled from here to their small village," Kahloon said. "The whole village, and probably all the neighboring villages, are grieving."

Ahmad and Nabil met in Morocco, her home country, and married in 2000. They moved to Louisville in 2003 and had three children, two boys, now ages 6 and 11, and a 13-year-old girl. Ahmad was a careful man, protective of his children, so the family moved to the suburbs, just off the Gene Snyder Freeway near the Oldham County line. He looked older than his age, his wife said, because he worried so much about his responsibilities.

But he always smiled or cracked a joke to lighten the mood for everyone else, she said.

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He was buried at a Muslim cemetery in Elizabethtown on Thursday, in keeping with the faith's tradition to bury their dead within a day. Around 100 people attended his funeral, Kahloon said.

At the funeral, his 6-year-old son kept asking why his father wouldn't open his eyes, Nabil said. His daughter wailed "it's not fair."

"He was my partner, my other half," she said. "If I was ill or tired or sick, I relied on him. Now I've got to be strong for our kids."

McCullum on Thursday pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.

His wife of 16 years, the mother of his two teenage sons, filed for divorce in March 2014. McCullum was a master electrician who owned his own business but let his license expire because of his struggle with mental illness and substance abuse, according to court records. He couldn't supervise his employees, the judge wrote. He sometimes walked off jobs and failed to file his taxes.

McCullum registered A & J Electric Inc. with the Secretary of State in May 2010, according to state records. The company was dissolved the following year because he failed to file an annual report, according to state records. But McCullum continued to work odd jobs, according to court records.

He submitted a handwritten document to the judge, swearing that he had no address because he moved out of the family home so his wife could sell it to support their children.

His wife's phone number, listed on court records, has been disconnected.

In October, police stopped McCullum for driving a van with expired tags and a shattered front windshield, according to the arrest record. The officer spotted a loose 9 mm bullet in the floorboard and asked if there were any guns in the vehicle.

McCullum "hesitated and then replied yes." As he got out of the van, a pack of rolling papers fell from his pocked, according to the report. Though he denied having drugs in the van, the officer found drug paraphernalia and marijuana. She also found two rifles and two handguns wrapped in a pair of overalls in the floorboard, two more handguns under a pile of clothes behind the passenger seat and a crossbow.

He does not have a concealed-carry license.

"Many in our community don't understand, they think there has to be something more to it. How can a traffic dispute lead someone to kill somebody?" Kahloon said. "But I believe it was a random road rage incident. We had a man who had access to guns, with a loose temper and a loose mind."

Ahmad and his brother owned the Dairy Mart at West Market and 28th streets.

It's a rough neighborhood, said Saroop Gul, a family friend who works the overnight shift. Sometimes they have to be stern with their customers. But Ahmad never could.

"He was too nice," Gul said. "I always had to do it."

Reporter Claire Galofaro can be reached at (502) 582-7086. Follow her on Twitter at @clairegalofaro.