MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A U.S. Army veteran who served in the war in Afghanistan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting a homeless man with an automatic rifle in downtown Memphis.
A lawyer for Karl P. Loucks, 42, entered the plea to a first-degree murder charge during a hearing in Shelby County Criminal Court. Loucks also pleaded not guilty to an aggravated assault charge in the stabbing of another homeless man in downtown Memphis, where Loucks lived in an apartment.
Loucks is being held in jail without bond. He was arrested May 31 in the killing of Shaun Rhea. Loucks’ lawyer has suggested that he acted in self-defense.
During a hearing in July, a security guard and a police investigator testified that Loucks attacked Rhea in the early morning hours of the day he was arrested. Tony Perry, a security guard at a downtown Memphis hotel, testified that he saw Loucks use pepper spray on Rhea while he was sleeping. Loucks also pepper-sprayed other homeless people that same night, Perry said.
After he was pepper-sprayed, Rhea confronted Loucks, asking why Loucks did it and “calling him the b-word,” Perry said. Loucks took out a knife, and Rhea picked up an electric scooter that was nearby and threw it at Loucks. He missed.
Perry said Rhea was angry, though he added that Rhea did not attempt to get physical with Loucks.
Loucks then entered his apartment building, but he returned shortly afterward carrying an AR-style rifle under an orange jacket, Perry testified. Perry said several shots were fired.
Rhea, who did not have a gun, was struck in the back, Memphis police Sgt. Jeremy Cline testified at the July hearing. Rhea died at a hospital.
Police were called, and they found the rifle and the jacket in Loucks’ apartment, Cline said. During a police interview after his arrest, Loucks said he acted in self-defense after Rhea confronted him, Cline said.
Loucks was a health care specialist in the Army from September 2007 to August 2013, according to an Army public affairs spokesman. Loucks served in Afghanistan from March 2009 to March 2010 and left the Army with the rank of private first class.
Loucks was honorably discharged from the Army because he was disabled due to post-traumatic stress disorder, his lawyer, Blake Ballin, has said. Ballin said Wednesday that he was arranging a psychological evaluation to determine if Loucks’ mental health will play a role in his defense.
Loucks also has been charged with aggravated assault after police said he cut another homeless man twice with a knife in the days before Rhea was shot.
During the July hearing, Judge Bill Anderson said he could not help but think that Loucks’ experience in the Army during wartime could be a factor in the case.