Aaron Brown Myers (KOMO).
A Washington state man is headed to prison for more than two decades after he shot and killed a 17-year-old boy he claimed was armed and about to commit a robbery but was actually just returning a BB gun to a sporting goods store.
Aaron Brown Myers, 52, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 25 years behind bars for the shooting death of 17-year-old Hazrat Ali Rohani outside Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Renton, a Seattle suburb, according to court records.
He was convicted in May of second-degree murder and assault.
Jammaludin Rohani, the victim's father, spoke about the profound impact his son's murder has had on his entire family.
"I and my family have forgotten how to love, how to smile, how to have fun, and how to live a life like everyone else around us," he told the judge, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate KOMO. "All of these are taken from us by someone who does not deserve to walk our streets with a firearm and evil intentions."
The defendant, an off-duty security guard, was in his car waiting for his son to finish his martial arts class in June 2024 when he spotted Rohani and two other teens carrying what he believed to be a Glock handgun, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by The Associated Press. Myers believed the teens were going into the store to rob it.
In reality, prosecutors said, the teens were returning a malfunctioning BB gun. Armed with a real Glock, Myers ran up to the teens and held them at gunpoint.
King County Prosecutor Elaine Lee said the boys repeatedly told Myers that the BB gun was not real. But Myers ignored those pleas.
"The defendant, Aaron Myers, made decisions based purely on assumptions," King County Prosecutor Elaine Lee told jurors, according to NBC affiliate KING. "He took one look at these boys walking toward Big 5, carrying a BB gun, and immediately labeled them as criminals."
Lee said Myers claimed "self-appointed authority" to detain the teens.
As he held them at gunpoint, Rohani, who went by Ali, dropped the fake gun and held up his hands.
"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," Lee said.
In all, Myers fired 10 times, "landing seven of those shots in the center mass of Ali's back," Lee said Wednesday.
Mark Middaugh, Myers' defense attorney, reportedly told jurors that Myers "needed to act" based on what he saw. Middaugh also noted that the BB gun looked real.
"He didn't want anyone to get hurt," Middaugh insisted. "The reason he got out of his car is he was trying to prevent violence."
But jurors didn't buy the defense and sided with the prosecution.
Middaugh asked the judge for an eight-year sentence.
Lee called the request "extremely offensive."
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