Man sentenced for 2023 shooting outside Clarendon bar after international search

ARLINGTON, Va. - A man will spend the next two decades in prison after he was sentenced Friday for a shooting outside a Clarendon bar in 2023 that critically injured a man.

What we know:

Taha Zouheir was sentenced to 17 years in prison and three years of probation for the June 4, 2023, shooting, the Arlington Commonwealth's Attorney's Office announced. The sentencing comes years after Zouheir led officials on an international search, and even, at one point, avoided extradition.

Timeline:

According to police, some time before 2 a.m. on June 4, 2023, Zouheir got into an argument with a man at a bar near Wilson Boulevard. 

Zouheir eventually left, but came back about 20 minutes later armed with a handgun. Police said Zouheir mentioned their earlier confrontation before shooting the man multiple times in the arm torso and lower body.

The next day, investigators said, Zouheir fled from Virginia to Florida, before getting on a flight bound for Morocco, which does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. Before he could get to Morocco though, Zouheir was arrested in Portugal.

Before he could be extradited, however, Zouheir was able to escape and head to Spain. He was re-captured there and extradited to the U.S. in July 2025.

What we don't know:

Announcing the sentencing Friday, Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti thanked investigators, locally and internationally, "whose persistence ensured that the defendant was brought back to Arlington to be held accountable."

Crime and Public Safety