Man kills teen trying to be a hero nobody asked for

King County prosecutors on Monday charged 51-year-old Aaron Brown Myers of Redmond with second degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy outside of a Renton sporting goods store Wednesday.

Officials say Myers shot the boy, identified in court documents only as H.R., seven times following a confrontation in the parking lot of the Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Grady Way. The boy, who friends say was attempting to return a malfunctioning airsoft gun to the store, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Myers also faces a second degree assault charge in connection with his alleged attempt to apprehend another teen during the confrontation, which was caught on surveillance video.

Myers approached the boys after seeing an airsoft gun in one's pocket and assuming they intended to commit an armed robbery, "despite the fact that he is not a member of law enforcement and thus has not been trained in how to safely prevent crime," according to charging documents.

The two teens who were with the victim told police they were going to the sporting goods store to either return or exchange the airsoft gun because it was malfunctioning, the affidavit said.

The teens complied with Myers' commands, "putting their hands in the air and placing the airsoft pistol he’d seen on the ground, and telling him it was just a 'BB gun,'" prosecutors wrote.

Myers had pinned one boy, identified in documents as B.A., to the ground. At some point, H.R. attempted to back away from the confrontation, his hands still in the air. That's when officials say Myers fired multiple shots at H.R., hitting him once in the side and six times in the back.

Myers told police he "shot [his] firearm, hitting H.R.," according to court documents.

"Rather than calling 911 or waiting for any evidence at all that could confirm or deny his assumption, he claimed he had a 'duty to intervene' and did so. The defendant exited his vehicle, pointed his own very real firearm at the three teenagers, and rapidly approached them," court records state.

Myers was detained by officers at the scene.

Court records indicate that several nearby law enforcement officers saw and heard parts of the confrontation leading up to H.R.'s death. It's unclear from court records whether they made an attempt to intervene prior to the shooting.

Prosecutors set Myers' bail at $2 million, citing "the likelihood that the defendant will fail to appear in response to a summons and that he may commit a violent offense."

Court documents also reference an incident in March 2022, during which Myers "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, all because he may need to 'intervene' and he 'might have to shoot' the person." In that instance, law enforcement officers intervened before anyone was hurt.

https://www.kuow.org/stories/man-charged-with-murder-shooting-teen-7-times-renton-big-5

 

Myers told police he works as an armed security guard elsewhere, and he had just gotten off work and was waiting in his car in a parking lot as his son attended martial arts classes nearby, according to the police affidavit.

"Myers indicated that he conducted 'overwatch' at the location as he has seen numerous crimes occur in the parking lot in the past," the affidavit read.

Reports do not show that Myers was authorized to guard the area.

Myers, who was armed with a registered semiautomatic pistol, told police he approached the teens with his gun out and told them to put their hands in the air, but no one complied, the police affidavit said. He then fired multiple rounds at the victim because he thought the teen was reaching into the waistband of his pants for what Myers believed was a gun and that the teen "was going to kill him," according to the filing.

“Mr. Myers and his family are devastated by this tragedy and the fact that it resulted in the loss of a young man’s life. On the evening in question Mr. Myers sincerely believed that he was witnessing the beginning of an armed robbery,” Myers’ attorney said in a statement to ABC News. “Unfortunately, during the confrontation Mr. Myers became in fear for his own life and fired his duty weapon to defend himself.”

 

I love how they’re always the aggressor initiating the entire conflict, then want to claim self-defense…

 

it was Zimmerman’s word against a dead kid…this has 2 other witnesses who were also attacked by this fool and happened in broad daylight with surveillance footage…they’re not that similar aside from the self-defense claim

 

In response to an ABC News’ request for comment, the deceased boy's father said he was too distraught to speak about the incident.

if I was the dad, I’d want to kill this dude…1 of the most senseless ways for your child to be murdered doing something normal and harmless like returning an item to the store and then being killed by an idiot wanting to play hero for no reason