A police officer in Arlington, Texas shot and killed unarmed Black college student Christian Taylor after a reported burglary at a car dealership in the Dallas area. According to the police, Taylor drove his SUV through the showroom windows of the Classic Buick GMC dealership after midnight this past Friday.
When officers responded to the call, they discovered Taylor inside the showroom. At some point, a struggle ensued and Arlington police officer Brad Miller, 49, discharged his weapon and killed Taylor on the spot.
Taylor was a defensive back at Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX and his friends and family are baffled by the shooting. According to his high school coach Travis Pride, “He told me that he thought he’d have an opportunity to start. He was ready to get back. He loved the coaches, loved the program. All signs were pointed to go–for him to go get things done.”
Taylor’s great-uncle Clyde Fuller stated, “I think something is going on that somebody is lying about. They say he’s burglarizing the place by running up in there? Nuh-uh. Something doesn’t sound right.”
Officer Miller graduated from the police academy last March, but he had been an employee with the department since September 2014. Miller was still undergoing in-the-field training with another officer. Since the shooting, he has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Ominously, just a week ago Taylor wrote on his Twitter account @he_got_sneaks, “I don’t wanna die too younggggg.”
Taylor’s shooting by police comes almost a year after the killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri that spawned the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
