Video: Attempted burglary, shooting at Bouchards; owner says: "I don't come to work to have a shootout"

MILWAUKEE -- A 20-year-old man facing charges in connection with an attempted burglary and shooting that occurred at Bouchards, a high-end clothing store on Martin Luther King Drive on July 3rd appeared in court on Monday, July 27th -- and for the first time, we are seeing the surveillance video that shows the store's owner firing shots at the suspects. We have also learned the store's owner won't be charged in connection with the shooting.

Rami Murrar

"I believe that they would have gone through the door, and I would have been dead -- so that's the reason I reached for my gun and as soon as the first one turned his back, I put my gun down. I don't come to work to have a shootout. I come to work to make money and so does everyone else," Rami Murrar, who owns Bouchards said. It was a dramatic break-in attempt that happened in the early morning hours of June 3rd -- and the entire incident was captured on high-quality surveillance video. The video shows Murrar sitting at a counter when three men approach with guns. Murrar scrambles to grab a rifle as the suspects ram their van into the store's entrance -- smashing the glass. The suspects try to push their way through the store's doors, and that's when Murrar opened fire.

Surveillance video shows attempted burglary, shooting at Bouchards

Deishun Byrd-McWay

20-year-old Deishun Byrd-McWay was hit by the gunfire. Byrd-McWay faces one count of burglary of a building as party to a crime and criminal damage to property (more than $2,500) as party to a crime. The incident occurred around 4:00 a.m. Murrar told police he was in the store, which was closed and locked when the alleged crime happened. Murrar said his stores sell high-end apparel, and have been robbed and looted "so many times over the last few years, he has tried to have someone at the store after hours to protect it." Murrar said he had also installed concrete posts in front of the store's entrance -- because looters had driven vehicles through his locked and gated doors at each of his two stores.

Attempted burglary and shooting at Bouchards

Early on Friday morning, Murrar said he parked his vehicle right out in front of the store -- in the hopes that anyone who approached the store would realize someone was there. Just before 4:00 a.m., the complaint indicates Murrar told police he noticed men with guns across the street -- and so he retrieved his own assault-style rifle from the store's office. He then told police he watched as a van was backed up through the concrete posts at the store's entrance -- and partially through the store's locked and gated doors. Murrar told police the van pulled forward and then back again, which caused the steel gate to pop open -- causing extensive damage to the building -- estimated at $12,000 or more to repair. Then, Murrar said three men tried to crawl through the opening in the gate -- and at least one of them was able to get part of his body through the opening and into the store before the owner then opened fire. The complaint indicates Murrar fired five shots rapidly at the suspects -- and the men then immediately fled the scene.

Murrar told police one of the men appeared to have been hit when the shots were fired, because he was limping severely, and fell down several times as he fled the scene. This entire incident was captured by the store's surveillance cameras.

Incident at Bouchards in Milwaukee

Those cameras recorded at least five individuals involved in the incident -- the three who attempted to enter the store on foot, the van's driver, and the driver of a second vehicle that picked the men up and drove them from the scene. Police say the van used in this incident was stolen. Officers spoke with the van's owner, who reported it was taken from Bremen Street on Milwaukee's East Side.

Minutes after 4:00 a.m., police were called out to St. Mary's Hospital (two miles east of Bouchards) after learning a shooting victim had been brought there following the incident at Bouchards. Police met two men in the hospital's waiting room, who had blood on their clothing, according to the complaint. Neither of these men would say where the shooting occurred. The complaint says one of the men told police he was walking from N. 15th Street to 1st and Center when he heard gunshots and saw Deishun Byrd-McWay hobbling before falling to the ground. The man told police he tried to be a Good Samaritan and help the  man. He said the second man who showed up at the hospital with Byrd-McWay was also in the area, and he recruited him to help. The man told police a woman driving by agreed to take the three men to the hospital. Hospital records show Deishun Byrd-McWay was admitted to St. Mary's with three gunshot wounds. He remains hospitalized. Police say Byrd-McWay has been interviewed twice by two different detectives, and he has refused to answer any questions at all concerning the circumstances under which he was shot. The complaint makes reference to an incident from back in 2012 -- a "car-ramming burglary" of the Bouchards store on Capitol Drive. Police say Byrd-McWay and one of the men who showed up at the hospital on the morning of July 3rd (the man who refused to say anything to police about the July 3rd incident) were observed with trash bags full of stolen apparel from Bouchards. No one was ever charged in that 2012 case. Byrd-McWay will next be in court in this case on August 5th for a scheduling conference. Meanwhile, Murrar's attorney tells FOX6 News Murrar will not be charged with a crime in connection with the shooting -- because he was acting in self-defense.