Fort Worth man gets 45 years for killing stepdaughter’s father

A 28-year-old Fort Worth man was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday for fatally shooting his stepdaughter’s biological father after he failed to have the girl back at her mother’s home by curfew.

Jurors has convicted Mohammed Awde of murder on Thursday, rejecting his claim that he shot Kevin Nguyen on the night of Dec. 22, 2013, because he was in fear for his life.

Timothy Rodgers, who prosecuted the case along with Bill Vassar, said he was pleased with the sentenced handed down by jurors, which included an $8,000 fine.

“You just never know what to expect,” Rodgers said. “This jury was obviously very mindful of the loss that the victim’s family has suffered and how senseless this all was.”

Defense attorney Jeffrey Kearney, who, along with attorney Reagan Wynn, represented Awde, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

On the night of the shooting, Nguyen had taken his 7-year-old daughter on an outing to look at Christmas lights.

Nguyen’s mother, Kim Tran, had tried to seek permission from the girl’s mother to keep the child out later that night, only to learn after the father and daughter had left on their outing that Awde wanted the child home by 8 p.m.

The mother later talked by phone to Awde to apologize that she had been unable to reach her son to tell him that the girl needed to be home at 8 p.m. She said the conversation with Awde was civil and that she thought everything was OK.

“I even promised him from now on it won’t happen again because I’ll be on top of everything. I just wanted to keep the peace,” Kim Tran previously told the Star-Telegram.

But police have said Awde waited for two hours in his garage for Nguyen to return with the girl, and then confronted Nguyen by his car.

The girl had gone inside the home in the 3800 block of Fox Run Drive when the shooting took place but Nguyen’s girlfriend and her two young children were inside the car.

One of the bullets fired by Awde traveled through the back driver’s side door of the car, lodging into the back seat near where the girlfriend’s 4-year-old son had been sleeping.

Nguyen, who was pharmacy school student, was shot twice and pronounced dead at the scene.

Awde told police after the shooting that he felt threatened when Nguyen pointed his finger in Awde’s face. He said he told Nguyen, “If you don’t stop pointing your finger in my face, I will shoot you,” then followed through when Nguyen responded, “Shoot me.”

Timothy Rodgers, said Awde testified during the trial that Nguyen had lunged at him — a claim that Rodgers said he had never previously made.

Rodgers said the defense attorneys tried to paint Nguyen as an apparent danger based on a burglary conviction he had from 8 years prior to the shooting.

Rodgers said he believed the shooting came down to Awde feeling disrespected and that it is now Nguyen’s daughter who pays the ultimate price.

After his arrest and subsequent release on bond in the case, Awde was prohibited from having any contact with his stepdaughter. Rodgers said the girl has been living with grandparents as her mother continued living with Awde.

“That little girl, who is now 10, has to go through life knowing that her mother’s husband murdered her father,” Rodgers said. “I don’t understand how she can have any normalcy after this.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Fort Worth man gets 45 years for killing stepdaughter’s father."