White Texas officer shoots dead unarmed, black college student
By Victoria Cavaliere REUTERS - A white Texas police officer fatally shot an unarmed, black 19-year-old college football player suspected of driving a car through the window of a Dallas-area car dealership, authorities said on Saturday. Arlington police officer Brad Miller, 49, responded early on Friday to a call about a burglary in progress at Classic Buick GMC dealership, where they found a vehicle driven into the front of the building, police said in a statement. Miller and other officers created a perimeter and approached a suspect inside, according to police. "As officers confronted the suspect, there was an altercation during which at least one officer discharged his weapon," the police said in a statement. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office identified the suspect, who died at the scene, as Christian Taylor. The medical examiner ruled Taylor's death a homicide and said he had gunshot wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen, according to online records. Taylor was unarmed, said police in Arlington, a city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Miller was still in training after graduating from the police academy in March, authorities said. Taylor, an Arlington native, was entering his sophomore year at Angelo State University, where he played defensive back on the school's football team. "We are still processing this news and are sad for Christian Taylor's family and friends, especially his teammates," Becky Brackin, a spokeswoman at the school in San Angelo, Texas, said in a statement. U.S. police have come under greater scrutiny over their use of force, particularly when dealing with black and Latino people, following a string of killings of unarmed men that began with last year's shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Arlington police said the shooting was under review. "The preservation of life and safety is our highest priority. The Arlington Police Department is saddened by this loss of life and will provide the community a clear and transparent investigation," the department said in a statement. The 911 call was made from a security company that was observing the suspect on a camera outside the car dealership, police said. Investigators are reviewing video from outside and inside the dealership, but they have not located any video capturing the shooting, they said. Arlington police do not wear body cameras but a pilot program was in the works, the department said. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Robert Birsel, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio)
