A 53-year-old Newcastle man received a prison sentence of just over 25 years for the 2024 Renton Big 5 Sporting Goods fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Kent teen.
Aaron Myers was sentenced Sept. 2 for second-degree murder and second-degree assault at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Myers shot Hazrat Ali Rohani, a Kent-Meridian High School student, on June 5, 2024, outside of Big 5. Myers was in his vehicle and saw Rohani and his friends walking to the store with BB guns. Myers exited his vehicle, pointed a firearm at the group, held one of the boys on the ground, and then shot Rohani.
Myers faced a sentence of between 20 and 28 years.
A King County Superior Court jury found Myers guilty May 8 of second-degree murder and second-degree assault. May 8 would have been Rohani’s 18th birthday.
Myers and Mark Middaugh, his attorney, had argued during the trial that Myers believed the boys were going to do something violent with the guns.
“He pointed his gun at Mr. Rohani, and he yelled at him, ‘Put your hands up and get down on the ground,’ but that’s not what he did. Instead, he turned his body sideways, and he dropped his right arm down to the butt of the gun,” Middaugh said. “And when Mr. Myers saw that, he felt he didn’t have a choice. He fired his weapon. This was not a murder. This was lawful use of force.”
Middaugh said that Rohani had his BB gun in his waistband during the incident, and that based on what occurred during the incident, Myers was entitled to act on appearances and, in that moment, he believed he did what was necessary to protect others and himself.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elaine Lee disagreed during the trial with that argument.
“The evidence in this case will show that these shots were not fired out of any reasonable belief of imminent danger,” Lee said. “Nor were they shots that any reasonably prudent person would make under the same or similar conditions. These were shots fired as a result of Mr. Myers’ decision to assault these two boys, to kill Ali right there on the pavement, where he fell.”
Details of the case
According to court documents, Renton Police Department officers were dispatched at approximately 7:38 p.m. June 5, 2024 to a reported shooting outside of Big 5 Sporting Goods, 601 S. Grady Way. Officers arrived and contacted Myers at the scene.
According to documents, in an interview with police, Myers advised that he works as an armed security officer, and on June 5, he brought his son to attend class at a martial arts gym. Myers, who was not on duty as a security officer, told detectives during the interview that he conducted “overwatch” at the location because he had previously seen crimes occur in the parking lot.
Surveillance footage showed Myers approaching the minors, including Rohani, in front of the store with a handgun raised and aimed. According to documents, footage showed one of the teens setting a firearm, identified as a BB gun, on the sidewalk and extending his arms in front of himself with his hands open, showing he held nothing in his hands.
Footage showed Myers push the boy to the ground and straddle him, holding him with his left hand by the back of his jacket, and aiming his gun at Rohani, according to documents. Footage showed Rohani in view of the camera with his fingers extended, showing he held nothing in his hands. After Rohani backed out of view of the camera, Myers fired his handgun multiple times.
Seconds after Myers fired shots, police arrived at the scene and detained him. King County Sheriff’s Office deputies were conducting a training in the area, heard the shooting and responded immediately, beginning lifesaving measures on Rohani. Rohani died at the scene.
“The video shows Rohani with his left hand raised above his head and his right arm briefly lowers to his waist area,” documents stated. “Immediately after [Rohani] is seen, on video, with his hand on the waist area it is clear that he has been shot because he abruptly jerks his body away from Myers and falls to the ground.”
According to documents, surveillance footage captured of the incident contradicted Myers’ statements in his interview with police. Myers told officers that as he sat in his vehicle, he saw three individuals walk in front of his parked vehicle, and saw what he believed was one of the boys in possession of a firearm, according to documents. Myers believed the three aimed to commit “armed robbery” at the location, and he felt he lacked the time to call 911, and that “he had a duty to act to stop the individuals from hurting someone innocent, and to protect his son who was in the location next door,” documents stated.
Myers told police that he exited his vehicle with his gun aimed at the individuals, and the three turned after hearing Myers exit his vehicle. Myers said he provided commands to the three boys, telling them to drop their firearms and put their hands up.
He saw the boy holding the firearm throw the gun to the side, according to documents. Myers told police that he restrained the boy as he did not want him to grab the firearm.
Myers said he continued to command the three boys to put their hands up, but they did not comply. Myers said he shot Rohani after Rohani reached into his waistband, stating he thought that Rohani was going to kill him.
In his interview with police, Myers stated the three boys never complied with his commands to put their hands up, documents state.
In interviews with the two additional teens involved, the teens stated to detectives that the firearms were airsoft guns, with the three heading to Big 5 Sporting Goods to return and exchange an airsoft gun and receive assistance with a magazine issue. The teens stated to detectives that they informed Myers numerous times that the firearms served as “BB guns” prior to the shooting.
According to court documents, Myers intervened in another incident in March 2022. He mistakenly believed someone was armed and followed a person carrying a metal object that he believed to be a gun from one store, through another store and away from the second store. In that case, he called 911, and officers responded. The officers determined that the person Myers was following did not have a gun and posed no threat. Nobody was injured.
