An officer-in-training shot and killed a 19-year-old unarmed college football player who apparently drove his SUV through the glass doors of a car dealership in suburban Dallas early Friday morning. It still remains unclear exactly why Brad Miller opened fire on Christian Taylor at about 1 a.m. while officers were responding to reports that an alarm had gone off at a dealership in Arlington. The only thing police have said so far is that there was a struggle between the officers and Taylor, who was a sophomore at Angelo State University, reports the Fort-Worth Star Telegram.
Eight days before he was killed, Taylor wrote on Twitter “I don’t wanna die too younggggg.”
The 49-year-old Miller had been with the Arlington Police Department since September and graduated from the police academy in March. “He had no commendation or discipline record at the department,” notes the Dallas Morning News. Miller has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“We’re having two independent investigations—a criminal and administrative,” a police spokesman said. “As an agency, we take the loss of any human life as serious, but we owe it to our community to conduct a clear and transparent investigation to determine what exactly took place.”
The San Angelo State University’s football coach, Will Wagner, wrote on Twitter, “Heart is hurting.” Others also took to social media to remember Taylor.
