Seattle security guard killed teenager outside mall, police say – NBC4 Washington

An off-duty security guard in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, has been charged by prosecutors with first-degree murder for shooting a 17-year-old boy six times in the back as he and his friends attempted to return a toy gun, which the guard thought was a firearm, to a sporting goods store.

King County prosecutors on Monday charged Aaron Brown Myers with killing Hazrat Ali Rohani outside a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Renton, Wash. Myers, 51, also faces a second-degree assault charge after he robbed another teenager at gunpoint, according to authorities.

Rohani and two other teens were on their way to the store to return a defective airsoft gun around 7:30 p.m. on June 5, Rohani’s friends told police. They walked in front of Myers, who was sitting in his car waiting to pick up his son from a martial arts class.

Myers told police he noticed a teenager carrying what he thought was a Glock pistol and believed he saw another teenager tuck a firearm into his waistband. Believing he had to prevent an armed robbery, Myers told police he didn’t have time to call 911. Instead, he got out of the car and pointed his gun at the teens.

As Myers approached, one of the teens stepped aside and the other two stopped and raised their hands. One of them placed the airsoft gun on the sidewalk and repeatedly explained to Myers that it was a “BB gun” and not a firearm.

Myers then pushed one of the boys to the sidewalk and straddled him, according to the probable cause document filed by Renton police. Myers continued to point his gun at Rohani while holding his hands out in front of him, showing Myers that they were empty, police said. Rohani began to back away, and Myers opened fire, hitting the teen once in the right side and six times in the back.

In the video, Rohani can be seen clutching his stomach, falling to the ground and calling for his mother. The other teenager ran for cover and called 911.

Rohani died at the scene and police immediately arrested Myers.

Myers’ attorney, Michelle Scudder, said in an email that Myers sincerely believed he was witnessing the beginning of a violent crime and wanted to stop it before anyone was hurt.

“Mr. Myers and his family are devastated by this tragedy and the fact that it resulted in the death of a young man,” Scudder said. “We are confident that the evidence during this investigation will show that Mr. Myers’ sole intention that day was to protect himself and others from serious injury or death.”

Myers said he had a “duty to intervene,” prosecutors said.

“The defendant failed to secure the toy gun instead of attacking the teenager who was carrying it,” King County Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Burke said in a court document.

Myers was being held in the King County Jail on $2 million bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 24 in Kent, Washington.

“Only high bail, electronic house arrest and the surrender of all firearms will protect the community from an untrained civilian who believes it is his duty to shoot people who have not hurt anyone,” Burke said.

It is unclear where Myers works as a security guard.

Myers had attempted to intervene in an incident he believed to be a crime in March 2022, police said. He called 911 and told police he saw a person on a bicycle pointing a gun at people, police said. He followed the person to a store until police arrived. Officers determined the person did not have a weapon and did not pose a threat, police said.

“In this case, the defendant attacked three teenagers who had committed no crime, choosing to escalate with increasing violence at each stage of the altercation until the defendant ultimately took Rohani’s life,” Burke said.