Angelo State Football Player Killed By Police

Early Friday morning, Christian Taylor was shot and killed by Arlington, Tx. police at the Classic Buick GMC Dealership. Taylor, 19, was set to begin his sophomore season at Angelo State University in San Angelo—a DII school that is part of the Texas Tech system—where he played defensive back for the Rams.

According to the Arlington Star-Telegram:

Officers were dispatched to a call about a burglary in progress about 1 a.m. at the Classic Buick GMC dealership on the Interstate 20 service road east of Collins Street, said Sgt. Paul Rodriguez, a police spokesman.

A security company had called 911 after observing the suspect on a security camera outside the business.

Rodriguez said police arrived to find that Taylor had used a vehicle to crash through glass in the front of the showroom.

“The officers went and confronted him. There was an altercation. An officer discharged his weapon and struck the suspect,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez alleges that security footage shows the unarmed Taylor perpetrating “criminal activity” in the lot. However, there is no footage of either the confrontation or the shooting of Taylor. The Arlington police are in the process of rolling out a body camera program for officers, but nobody is wearing them yet. Brad Miller, the officer who shot Taylor, was a trainee who has been on the force for less than a year, and has been placed on administrative leave.

There is something off about this story. The police are specific about why they ended up at the dealership, but not what happened once they got there. They have footage of Taylor allegedly “damaging vehicles,” but not of the fatal confrontation. And what kind of harebrained scheme involves crashing your own car into a showroom to steal another one?

[ Arlington Star-Telegram]

Photo via Angelo State