RENTON, Wash. — On June 5th, 17-year-old Hazrat Ali Rohani was shot and killed outside the Big 5 Sporting Goods Store in Renton. Investigators say that 51-year-old Aaron Myers, a retired Navy veteran and off-duty security guard, confronted him and two of his friends outside the store because he believed they were going to rob the store and cause harm.
Myers also claims he saw the teens brandishing what looked like guns before walking toward the store, which made him fear for his and his child’s safety. Myers confronted the teens about it, and then a fight broke out which then led to Myers shooting Rohani several times.
“I mean, it was a brutal murder,” said Katie Walker with the Washington Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Walker with CAIR says the Rohani family is still grieving their son’s death while at the same time continuing to fight for justice.
“It would be really important to find justice and hopefully video like that would show that this person was indeed guilty of murder,” Walker said.
KIRO 7 has obtained surveillance video from both Big 5 Sporting Goods and the martial arts school next door that captures the entire situation. The video from the martial arts school shows the very moment when Rohani turned around and was shot several times by Myers. The owner of the martial arts school, Shannon, spoke with KIRO 7 about the shooting.
“It’s terrible. None of it should’ve happened, period,” said Shannon.
Shannon also confirmed that Myers’ son is a student of his and that Myers was waiting in the parking lot for his son. Shannon says he has watched the video over and over again. He says he wasn’t there when it happened, but he wishes he was.
“Maybe if I heard the commotion, I could’ve run outside and de-escalated the situation,” said Shannon.
And business owners like Shannon believe that this sort of violence is never the answer.
“I would’ve never pulled my gun out in that situation. I would’ve called police. I would’ve called police. End of story,” said Shannon.
Myers has been charged with murder and assault. He is currently on electronic home monitoring. KIRO 7 reached out to Myers for comment but he never responded.