Marcus Weldon, 26, was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when he shot Saleh Rifai in the hand and Amar Aldani in the chest at a downtown Detroit gas station over a confrontation between the 29-year-old men that reportedly started over an argument about “Santa’s girlfriend, Mrs. Claus.” 

When one of the men ran to his car, Weldon reportedly feared he was going to get a gun and decided to open fire. Two officers who were off duty managed to chase Weldon, who was later arrested by a uniformed officer. 

Weldon faces multiple assault charges, including assault with intent to murder. 

On Monday, people who know Weldon spoke at a press conference in his defense. 

“He is not ‘The Santa Claus Shooter’, doing anything negative,” said David Bullock of the Change Agent Consortium. “In fact he was a ‘Super Santa’ protecting a sister who was in his care.” 

Ibrahim Aljahim, a Yemeni American community activist, said he doesn’t think the charges should be dropped and that Weldon should have to serve time for shooting and injuring two unarmed men and then running off. 

“I think he should get life without parole,” Aljahim said. “We could have lost two lives and for what misunderstanding, because he thought they had guns? These are innocent unarmed men; there was no reason to shoot them. And if he is such a hero and acted in self-defense, why did he just run off and leave these men to just die? A decent good human being would have called police, not left them to die.” 

Rifai was released from the hospital, but is still recovering from injuries. Aldani, who lost one of his kidneys and is listed in critical condition, is still in a coma.

Aljahim said Aldani’s father passed away only an hour and a half after hearing that his son was shot at a gas station and sent to a hospital. 

“He probably died because he was so worried about what happened to his son who was caring for him. This is not fair,” Aljahim said. 

Aldani is married and has a daughter who is only a year and a half old, living in Yemen. Aljahim said Aldani moved to the United States and away from his family to care for his sick father. Family members have not told Aldani his father died, because they want to make sure he recovers with no worries. 

Weldon’s attorney, Gabi Silver, pleaded not guilty on Weldon’s behalf at a hearing shortly after the incident. 

Silver told Judge Michael Wagner that Weldon was acting in defense of a woman. 

Silver later told reporters the woman was his co-worker, who was dressed as Mrs. Claus and had possibly been pushed by one of the men. Silver said Weldon and his co-worker were dressed as the Clauses for a party at the MGM Grand Casino in downtown Detroit, where they both work.

“It is ridiculous and unbelievable,” Aljahim said. “If this had been an Arab or Muslim who shot somebody, and they were in critical condition fighting for their life at a hospital, people would have been protesting to get the gas station shut down or turned it into a race issue.”