Police fire cop who killed teen

Late Tuesday, police announced the firing of a white officer who shot and killed an unarmed black student near Dallas, Texas, last week. The officer killed Christian Taylor on Friday after he allegedly broke into an auto dealership in Arlington and told officers he planned to steal a car.

"This is an extraordinarily difficult case," Police Chief Will Johnson said on Tuesday. "Decisions were made that had catastrophic outcomes."

The white officer, 49-year-old Brad Miller, killed Taylor two days before the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown's death helped spur protests and the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement to demand reforms to how police treat minorities.

Taylor's death also comes after the family of a black woman who died in police custody filed suit against a different Texas department.

'Obey the commands'

Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday morning, Miller pursued the 19-year-old Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Chief Johnson said on Tuesday. Instead of setting up a perimeter around the showroom, Miller confronted Taylor and ordered him to get down on the ground, Johnson said. According to police, Taylor did not comply.

Before his confrontation with Miller, Taylor allegedly held up a set of car keys and told another officer that he intended to steal a car, Johnson said. Taylor had driven a vehicle through the glass front doors of the showroom and, after officers arrived, had slammed his body into the side of a different part of the building to try to escape, the chief said.

Miller graduated from police academy this year. In the showroom, his training officer drew his Taser. The training officer heard a single pop and, according to a police report, thought Miller had fired his own Taser, but he had in fact drawn his service weapon and fired it at Taylor from approximately 7-10 feet (2-3 meters), Johnson said.

According to police, Taylor continued to approach and Miller fired his gun three more times. No video apparently exists of the shooting itself, though security camera footage from Classic Buick GMC dealership's parking lots reportedly shows Taylor walking around and damaging some vehicles.

In a statement condemning the officer's firing, the Arlington Municipal Patrolman's Association called for "Miller's right to be judged fairly and completely on facts instead of a snapshot developed in only days." The group also expressed roundabout sympathy for Taylor's family, adding: "We again ask that citizens obey the commands of police officers in order to prevent these tragedies from occurring in the future."

Miller's lawyer didn't have an immediate comment on Johnson's announcement. Taylor's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment from news agencies.

At a protest Tuesday night outside the Arlington police headquarters, about 60 demonstrators demanded that the department charge Miller with a crime. Johnson said he would leave criminal charges to a grand jury. As a probationary employee, Miller cannot appeal his firing.

mkg/kms (AFP, dpa, AP)