Arlington Police Officer Fired Over Fatal Shooting Of Christian Taylor

By Associated Press

Published August 11, 2015 at 9:14 PM CDT

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson says he's troubled by some of the actions taken by police at the car dealership where Christian Taylor was fatally shot.

The Arlington police chief has fired an officer who fatally shot an unarmed college football player.

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Tuesday that he fired officer Brad Miller over the shooting of Christian Taylor. Johnson says he's troubled by some of the actions Miller took while responding to a reported burglary at a car dealership early Friday morning when Taylor, 19, was fatally shot.

Johnson says Taylor ran toward the officer who shot him, but there was no physical contact before he was shot.

Johnson said it will be up to a grand jury to decide whether Miller should be charged criminally.

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.

Arlington police released audio of a 911 call made by the company manning the exterior cameras at the car dealership.

In the audio released Tuesday, the caller can be heard telling a 911 operator that a "thin black man with a blond Mohawk" was seen jumping on the windshield of a gray Ford Mustang.

Police say Taylor would ram a vehicle into the showroom of the Classic Buick GMC dealership. Miller confronted Taylor in the showroom and eventually shot at him four times, hitting him at least twice.

The dealership's cameras show Taylor walking around the parking lots, but not the confrontation inside the showroom.

Meanwhile, about 60 people gathered outside the Arlington police headquarters Tuesday night to demand that Miller face criminal charges.

Dominique Alexander was one of the organizers of the demonstration. He told The Associated Press he felt vindicated by the police chief's decision to fire Miller. But he said he is intent on Miller's arrest.

One of Taylor's former classmates at Mansfield's Summit High School, 20-year-old Matthew Higgins, said Miller's firing is "not enough justice."

There were no arrests during the demonstration. Taylor's parents didn't attend the rally.

An Arlington police officers' advocacy group is appealing for fair treatment of Miller.

In a statement issued Tuesday night, the Arlington Municipal Patrolman's Association emphasized Johnson's acknowledgment that the investigation of Miller remains incomplete. It also cited Johnson's acknowledgement that Taylor refused to surrender and behaved in a manner that could be considered as threatening when Miller shot him.

The association says it supports Miller's "right to be judge fairly and completely on facts instead of a snapshot developed in only days."

It also expressed sympathy with Taylor's family.

Video: Watch Arlington police chief address the media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ysaWpiGU8