Police: Man made death threats in store, said he was God

MUNCIE, Ind. – City police said a Muncie man created a disturbance in the northside Goodwill store on Saturday, in the process choking a store clerk, breaking an officer’s hand – and proclaiming himself to be God.

Khaliad Sulaiman Bilal, 24, of the 3700 block of North Tillotson Avenue, was arrested on preliminary counts of strangulation, intimidation, battery, battery on law enforcement, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

However, Bilal – also alleged to have threatened to kill several people in the store – was admitted to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital rather than taken to the Delaware County jail.

Police were called to the store – at 5035 W. Hessler Blvd. – about 1:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a man “fighting with customers and staff.”

Witnesses – several of whom took cellphone videos of the incident, according to police reports – said Bilal at first “aggressively approached” those inside the Goodwill store, “trying to preach to people and also putting his hands on customers.”

They said he became increasingly agitated, “screaming about being Muslim and how he was going to kill everyone including the police,” a report said.

During the disturbance, a 50-year-old store clerk was allegedly battered and strangled by the Muncie man.

That woman told police Bilal “grabbed her by the throat and applied pressure” after he became upset “while trying to covert (her) to Islam.”

Bilal allegedly fought with officers when they arrived, and continued to do so after being shocked with an electric stun device, repeatedly kicking at officers after he was handcuffed. One officer’s hand was broken during the melee.

After the Muncie man was placed in an ambulance, Bilal was asked to identify himself and said he was God, an officer said.

Earlier, while still in the store, Bilal had said several times “that he was the Prophet Muhammad and told us that we were going to hell,” an officer wrote.

According to a probable cause affidavit signed Monday by Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees, after he is released from the hospital, Bilal will be held in the county jail under a $10,000 cash bond.

Also Monday, additional preliminary charges – of battery on law enforcement and resisting law enforcement – were lodged against Bilal after he allegedly repeatedly struck an IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital police officer in the face.

The officer reported he was called to the BMH emergency room about 5:30 a.m. when Bilal managed to escape from restraints he had been placed in “due to several prior violent incidents.”

As the officer and a nurse tried to place him back in the restraints, Bilal “struck me in the face approximately three times, knocking my glasses off (and) sending them flying,” the policeman wrote in a report.

The officer said he then struck Bilal twice, once in the mouth, in an effort to subdue him.

Court records reflect no prior charges against the Muncie man.

In a statement placed in response to a related online story at thestarpress.com. David Ferrell, a chaplain at the hospital, noted Bilal’s alleged actions “sound nothing like the actions of God, or Prophet Mohammed.”

“These are the ravings of an obviously disturbed individual,” the chaplain wrote, expressing hope Bilal would receive any needed psychological care and then face prosecution for any crimes he has committed.

“Knowing the good that has been, and continues to be done by our local Muslim community, this individual's actions should not be seen as reflective upon these fine community members,” Ferrell said.

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