An off-duty security guard who fatally shot a teen returning a BB gun to a Big 5 Sporting Goods store was convicted of second-degree murder and assault on May 8.
Aaron Brown Myers, 52, ignored repeated pleas from the boy’s friends that the BB guns they carried weren’t real and instead opened fire, said prosecutor Elaine Lee, per a courtroom report from local station KING 5. Seven bullets fired by Myers hit Hazrat Ali Rohani, six in the back, and the boy collapsed to the ground, reportedly calling out for his mother. He died at the scene on June 5, 2024.
Prosecutors said Rohani, 17, and two teenage friends were on their way to return malfunctioning BB or airsoft guns to a Big 5 store in Renton, a Seattle suburb. Myers parked in the strip mall lot. He was waiting for his son’s jiujitsu class to end. When he saw the group holding what he mistakenly believed to be a Glock handgun, according to arrest records obtained by The Associated Press. Myers maintained that he thought he was thwarting a robbery when he exited his car and approached the group with his firearm drawn.
Mark Middaugh, Myers’ defense attorney, argued that Myers “needed to act” based on what he perceived, and framed the shooting as an attempt to “prevent violence.” He reportedly told jurors, “He didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Prosecutors presented a vastly different picture, supported by witness testimony and surveillance video — one that the jury sided with. Despite the boys shouting that the BB gun wasn’t real, Myers pointed his firearm at them anyway, Lee argued. Witnesses testified that Rohani listened to Myers’ orders, dropped the BB gun, and held up his hands. But when Rohani began to lower one arm and turn away, Myers opened fire.
“The defendant, Aaron Myers, made decisions based purely on assumptions. He took one look at these boys walking toward Big 5, carrying a BB gun, and immediately labeled them as criminals,” Lee told jurors in the courtroom.
“When Ali turned to walk away, Mr. Myers decided to shoot him once, twice, over and over and over, continuing to shoot as Ali fell to his knees and hands, continuing to shoot as Ali fell face down to the ground.”
The charges against Myers carry 10 to 18 years for the murder and an additional 10 years for two firearm enhancements. Rohani was the son of Afghan immigrants, and the Muslim civil rights group, CAIR, expressed relief at the guilty verdict in a May 12 news release:
“We welcome the conviction in this heinous case as the first step toward justice for Hazrat Ali Rohani and his family,” said Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington chapter. “We pray that God grants them solace and eases their pain.”
Myers could face up to 28 years behind bars, according to the Prosecutor’s Office in King’s County, Washington, where the senseless tragedy occurred. The judge will sentence him on July 21.
