FBI to Assist in Car Dealership Shooting Investigation

The FBI will participate in the investigation into the death of a Texas college football player who was fatally shot by an officer during a burglary call at a car dealership, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Saturday.

During a news conference Saturday night, Johnson said a special FBI agent in charge of the Dallas field office would take part in the probe. He stressed it "in no way diminishes my confidence" in local officers to conduct the investigation.

“We recognize the importance of these topics, the impact these issues have on communities nationwide, and we pledge to act in a transparent manner in an effort to alleviate these concerns,” said Johnson.

This week, Arlington’s chief of police, Will Johnson, is expected to release new information on the fatal police shooting of Christian Taylor.

The press conference came just hours after the release of security camera footage filmed in the parking lot outside Classic Buick GMC. The nine-minute long video appears to capture the moments before 19-year-old Christian Taylor was fatally shot by Arlington officer Brad Miller.

Miller was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, which is standard procedure. Police said Miller, who was in his first year and still working with a training officer, had never before fired his weapon in the line of duty.

Johnson said Miller and his field training officer found Taylor "freely roaming" inside the dealership when they arrived. After Taylor tried to escape from another side of the building, the other officer used a stun gun and Miller fired four rounds with his service weapon, Johnson said.

Police had gone to Classic Buick GMC in South Arlington, about 10 miles west of Dallas, after being contacted by a company that manages security cameras at for the car dealership. Police were advised that someone had driven a car onto the lot, started to damage another car, then drove his own vehicle through the glass front of the showroom, a police sergeant said earlier Saturday.

Taylor, who was black, was shot by a white police officer two days before the anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The death of Brown, who was also unarmed, galvanized the "Black Lives Matter" movement and sparked protests that at times turned violent. Sunday night, on the anniversary of the Brown shooting, a man who opened fire on Ferguson police officers during a protest was critically wounded when officers returned fire.

Johnson mentioned the current climate during the news conference Saturday, noting that "our nation has been wrestling with the topics of social injustice, inequities, racism and police misconduct" and that his department would "pledge to act in a transparent manner."

Some of the nationwide criticism of police use of force in the last year has happened online, and Taylor's death resonated on social media, with some posts questioning the official account and calling for video to be released.

Police said they are investigating Taylor's death both as a possible criminal case and to determine whether department rules were broken.

Miller, 49, has been with the Arlington Police Department since last September and has been working under the supervision of a training officer since his graduation from the police academy in March, according to police. Miller had no police experience before joining the Arlington police force.

A vigil was scheduled in honor of Christian Taylor, a teen fatally shot by police inside an Arlington car dealership.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
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