Funeral set for college student shot dead by Texas officer

The attorney for a Texas police officer fired after fatally shooting an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a vehicle dealership is defending his client’s actions and insulting those of the police chief.

The Arlington Municipal Patrolman’s Association issued a statement Tuesday night decrying Johnson’s decision. It also cited Johnson’s acknowledgement that 19-year-old suspect Christian Taylor refused to surrender and behaved in a manner that could be considered as threatening when Miller shot him Friday. The group said it supports “Miller’s right to be judged fairly and completely on facts instead of a snapshot developed in only days”, and expressed sympathy for Taylor’s family. Pastor Dwight McKissic Sr. presented a check for $5,000 to the Taylor family to help defray Christian Taylor’s funeral expenses.

He was fired Tuesday by Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson, who said Miller “exercised poor judgment” that led to “cascading consequences”.

Arlington’s police chief told a community forum that race relations between officers and minority communities must be a constant priority, not just a focus during crises.

TAYLOR GRADUATED last year from Mansfield Summit High School in Arlington and was listed on Angelo State’s roster as a 5-foot-9, 180-pound freshman defensive back.

There were no arrests during the demonstration.

Texas police have released audio of a 911 call made by the company manning the exterior cameras at a vehicle dealership where a police officer killed an unarmed Texas college football player. In the audio, the caller tells a 911 operator that a “thin black man with a blond Mohawk” was seen jumping on the windshield of a gray Ford Mustang. When Taylor was about 10 feet away, the officer fired, Johnson said.

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

The previous item has been corrected to reflect that Miller was fired Tuesday, instead of Monday.

The Arlington NAACP is becoming giving their own take on the filming loss of life of 19-year old Christian Taylor, who is murdered with an Arlington officers on Friday, August oyr best seven.

Miller went into the building right after Christian Taylor, alone, without even telling his training officer.

A white colored Texas officer seriously filmed an exposed, chocolate 19-year-old school runner believed of pushing a automotive in the window(s) of a new Dallas-area 4wd fix facility, origins said on Saturday. While he said he had “serious concerns” about Miller’s use of deadly force, Johnson said it would be up to a grand jury to decide whether Miller’s actions were criminal.

Christian Taylor, who would have been returning to Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas as a sophomore in the fall semester, was described by classmates as “religious” and “a very positive young man”.

Taylor’s death came two days before the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and is the latest is a series of other black men who have been killed by police.

Chief Johnson fired Officer Miller, who was still in training, for violating department policy. Mayor Jeff Williams, Police Chief Will Johnson and local pastor Gary Smith will also attend.

In his only known criminal charge, Taylor received six months’ deferred adjudication on a drug charge after police found him with 11 hydrocodone tablets that were not prescribed to him, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Police have said that when officers arrived, Taylor was roaming inside the showroom.