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Police chief fires officer who fatally shot unarmed Texas college football player Police chief fires officer who fatally shot unarmed Texas college football player
(35 minutes later)
The police chief in the Dallas suburb of Arlington has fired an officer who fatally shot an unarmed Texas college football player. A Texas police department has fired an officer who shot dead a young football player last week and said they will turn over all evidence in the case to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.
Related: Christian Taylor's father says police 'won't even talk to me' after son's deathRelated: Christian Taylor's father says police 'won't even talk to me' after son's death
Arlington police chief Will Johnson said Tuesday that he was troubled by some of the actions taken by police responding to a reported burglary at a car dealership early Friday morning when 19-year-old Christian Taylor was fatally shot. Johnson says Taylor ran toward the officer who shot him, but there was no physical contact before he was shot. Arlington police chief Will Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday that officer-in-training Brad Miller, 49, acted irresponsibly and broken protocol at several key moments during an encounter early Friday morning with 19-year-old Christian Taylor.
Taylor played football at Angelo State University in San Angelo. Security footage from the dealership lot shows Taylor breaking the windshield of a car on the lot before driving his own vehicle into a glass showroom. He said that when officers first arrived and met Taylor, just after 1am, he was inside the glass storefront of a car dealership, and they stood just outside it. He was, they said, screaming and had a “bulge in his pocket”.
Officers Dale Wiggins and his trainee, Miller, were sent to secure the western perimeter of the auto showroom. Instead, Miller moved ahead, and when he rounded a corner and saw Taylor’s car, which he had crashed into the dealership’s plate glass, he entered through the glass.
Miller should have waited for his partner, Johnson said Tuesday night. He said Miller’s decision to enter alone was “troubling” in several ways: the officers did not know whether Taylor was alone in the dealership, or whether he was armed. Miller and Wilkins should have simply maintained a perimeter and waited.
Related: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States in 2015 – interactive
When Miller entered the dealership, he saw Taylor and pursued him into a back corner of the building. Taylor flung himself against a glass door, with such force that officers on the outside could see the building’s glass exterior shaking.
Meanwhile Miller’s partner, Wiggins, felt he had no choice but to follow his trainer into the building. He told internal affairs investigators he felt “a sense of urgency to rejoin” Miller.
As Wiggins approached back corner where Miller stood, Taylor turned away from the locked door and approached the officers rapidly, Johnson said. Wiggins upholstered his taser and heard a “pop,” which he thought was Miller firing his own taser. Instead, it was Miller filing his gun.
Wiggins then fired his own taser, while Miller fired three more bullets.
Johnson said the incident was “a tragic case. Our community is hurting, a family is hurting, our department is hurting, and indeed our nation is hurting.”
Local protesters planned to demonstrate against the shooting on Tuesday night.
Christian Taylor’s father, Adrian, said he felt encouraged by the department’s decision to fire Miller, but was unsatisfied.
“My son is never coming home again”, he said. “So right now I’m not sure there’s anything that could satisfy me.”
Johnson said his department is sharing information with the FBI, although the FBI is not directly involved in the investigation right now. He said a criminal investigation into Miller’s actions will proceed, but could take some weeks.