Prosecutors say a Seattle-area man fatally shot a 17-year-old boy in the back after he mistook an airsoft gun the teen was carrying for a real gun.
Now, Aaron Brown Myers faces second-degree murder and assault in connection with the death of 17-year-old Hazrat Ali Rohani.
Police say 51-year-old Myers confronted Rohani and two other teenage boys outside of a Big 5 Sporting Goods in a Seattle suburb on June 5.
According to a criminal complaint, Myers was in the store’s parking lot that day when he saw the three boys walk in front of his parked car. He told police that as a licensed security guard, he regularly conducts “overwatch” at that location while his son attends martial arts class next to Big 5.
He wasn’t on official guard duty that day but claimed that he saw one of the boys passing by his car with a “Glock” and assumed that the teens were going to pull off an armed robbery at one of the shops nearby. He told detectives he didn’t have time to call 911 and felt a “duty to act,” so he confronted them.
Myers alleged that when he approached the teens, they ignored his commands, and he thought one was going to “kill him.”
But authorities say that Myers’ story doesn’t line up with what surveillance footage shows and that he was the one who was “escalating” the situation with “more and more violence,” according to the complaint.
According to The Seattle Times, surveillance video showed Myers confronting the teens with his gun raised. One boy immediately put down the airsoft gun he was carrying and raised his hands. Myers tackled that boy to the ground, pinned him there, and then pointed his gun at Rohani.
As Rohani backed away with his arms raised above his head, he turned away, and Myers shot him — six times in the back and once in his side.
Rohani died at the scene.
His friends told police that they were going to Big 5 to return or exchange Rohani’s airsoft gun because it was malfunctioning, USA Today reports. Another boy also brought his airsoft gun to report a “magazine issue” to employees. The teens said they told Myers multiple times that the guns weren’t real. One boy said he heard Rohani calling for his mom, and Rohani tried to run to call 911 before he was gunned down.
“When (the victim) hit the ground, he called out for his mom.” the complaint says, according to Inside Edition.
A judge set Myers’ bail at $2 million after prosecutors called attention to an incident from two years ago in which Myers called police on someone he thought was also carrying a gun.
Myers called 911 on March 29, 2022, to report that he saw someone on a bike pointing a gun at people. He followed that person to several stores and told police “he might have to shoot.” Officers arrived and learned that the item the person was carrying was a metal bike part.
