Goodwill charges dropped; defendant deported

Douglas Walker | The Star Press

MUNCIE, Ind. – Charges against an ex-Muncie man accused of fighting with police officers – and threatening to kill shoppers at a northside store unless they converted to Islam – have been dismissed.

That’s because 24-year-old Khalid Sulaiman Bilal, a former Ball State University student, has been deported.

Bilal was charged with 15 crimes – including five counts of battery resulting in bodily injury to a police officer, three counts of resisting law enforcement, and attempted strangulation and intimidation – in connection with the March 25 incident at the Goodwill store, 5035 W. Hesler Blvd.

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According to police reports and documents filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bilal tried to “forcefully convert people to Islam” after entering the Goodwill store, at times threatening to kill everyone in the building.

He was also charged with battering and choking a store clerk, vowing to kill her if she did not convert to Islam. Witnesses said he repeatedly shouted, “Allahu Akbar!” as he struggled with police officers.

Two days after the Goodwill incident, Bilal was accused of striking an IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital police officer in the face.

Homeland Security agents searched Bilal’s northside Muncie home – in Scheidler Apartments, owned by Ball State – for signs of “radicalized behavior.”

At an April 12 hearing in Delaware Circuit Court 1, Bilal told Judge Marianne Vorhees he was not a U.S. citizen. Later that day, he was taken into custody by federal authorities, reportedly bound for deportation proceedings in Chicago or Indianapolis.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman this week filed a motion to dismiss the 15 charges pending against Bilal, noting “the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has deported the defendant back to his native county of Saudi Arabia.”

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. Follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.