Don't Play The Hero

I've warned before about the dangers of intervening in situations that do not involve you or a loved one (see, e.g., "The Dangers of White Knighting"). Other experienced self-defense experts have also warned about physically intervening, especially when you don't know the facts and circumstances. 

    One of the early Massad Ayoob books I read related an incident where a passing motorist saw a man pushing a woman against a wall, while the woman cried out for help and that she was being raped. The motorist decided to intervene, shooting and killing the "rapist" who turned out to be a plainclothes police officer attempting to arrest a prostitute. As you might imagine, it didn't turn out well for the "white knight".

    The Truth About Guns reports on a similar recent incident from the Seattle area: "Off-Duty Security Guard Kills Teen Returning Malfunctioning Airsoft Gun." (See also, "Washington man shot teen 7 times after mistakenly suspecting him of planning robbery"--USA Today). In this case, it wasn't just that the security guard intervened where he shouldn't, but that once he interjected himself into the situation, he made very poor decisions that took him outside the box of self-defense. That he did this in the rabidly anti-gun King County, Washington--killing a POC kid in the process--just makes it all the worse for him.

    The dead young man in this case was Hazrat Ali Rohani. According to his two surviving friends, the three were going to Big 5 to see about repairing or replacing an airsoft pistol owned by Hazrat, as well as have the store personnel check out a magazine problem with a second airsoft pistol. 

    The "hero" in this case was Aaron Brown Myers, the owner of a security company and licensed security guard. According to the articles, Myers had taken his son to a martial arts class held in a studio next to a Big 5 sporting goods store. Myers was sitting in his vehicle waiting for his son and conducting, what he apparently told police, was an "overwatch" of the parking lot and stores. "He told police he's seen numerous crimes occur there in the past and just wanted to keep his son safe," according to the USA Today article.

    Suddenly, Myers saw the three teens approaching the Big 5 store with one of them carrying what appeared to be a Glock pistol and another apparently stuffing a weapon into his waistband. A statement from Myers attorney indicated that "Mr. Myers sincerely believed that he was witnessing the beginning of an armed robbery when he observed three young men pass his truck on their way into a store that was adjacent to the location where his son was attending a martial arts class." 

    Myers, a “professional security consultant,” got involved in the hopes of stopping a robbery before anyone got hurt.  Myers echoes a similar sentiment made to police during the interview, telling them that he was “in fear for his own life and fired his duty weapon to defend himself.” He also said he didn't have time to call 911 and "had a duty to act to stop the individuals from hurting someone innocent," Burke wrote.

    “We are confident that over the course of this investigation the evidence will show that Mr. Myers’ only intent that day was to protect himself and others from serious harm or death,” according to the statement. 

    So, although his son was not in immediate danger and he didn't have time to draw his cell phone and call 9-1-1, Myers had the time and opportunity to get out of his car and confront the teens with a drawn weapon. Unfortunately for Myers, he talked to the police and what he told the police did not match up with surveillance video:

    When Myers confronted the teens, he told police they ignored his commands to put their hands up and that he thought that one of them was "going to kill him." Police say surveillance video contradicts much of Myers' story.

Rather, when Myers approached the teens with his own gun in hand, one of the teens put his airsoft pistol on the ground and showed Myers his empty hands. Myers then pushed one of the teens to the ground and straddled him while pointing his weapon at Hazrat, who had an airsoft pistol in his pocket, but was also showing Myers his hands per the surveillance video. 

    Hazrat begins to turn away from Myers, briefly lowering one of his raised arms in the direction of his waistband, at which point Myers opens fire, shooting the boy seven times, hitting him "once in the side and at least six times in the back," Burke wrote in the charging document.

    A King County sheriff’s deputy in the area at the time witnessed the shooting, Burke wrote, though it was unclear why she didn't intervene. It was also unclear if she or her partner were the ones to arrest Myers.

Also, "[b]oth friends said they told Myers repeatedly that the guns weren't real but that before they knew it, their friend had been shot." 

    Now Myers is being held on a $2 million bond on charges of second degree murder. Worse, this was not the first time he had followed and threatened to shoot someone who he believed had a weapon. In 2022, he had followed and called police about a man on a bicycle whom Myers believed was carrying a weapon. When police stopped the man, it turned out he was unarmed and only had a silver object believed to be a bicycle part.

    It is entirely possible that the youths were going to a store that sells guns with the purpose of robbing it with fake pistols. I'm not sure why Myers didn't see the orange barrel caps on most every airsoft gun I've seen, but perhaps they had been painted over or removed. So it is believable that Myers might have genuinely thought the airsoft pistols to be real. 

    But the teens were not headed into the ju-jitsu dojo where his son was training. Moreover, there are lots of other ways to get involved that did not require him to physically confront the youths with a drawn weapon. For one thing, he could have simply been a good witness, taking photographs or recording a description of the youths in case there was a robbery. He could have called 9-1-1, although perhaps his prior experience in 2022 made him reluctant to do so. And although I think it going too far, he could have shadowed the teens into the store and observed them.

    But he screwed up because he wasn't considering the rules of self-defense. When he stopped the teens, no one was in imminent danger of grave bodily harm. Myers literally had no justification for drawing his weapon. He also had no legal right or authority to try and detain the three. He had no legal duty "to act to stop the individuals from hurting someone innocent," Rather, he became the aggressor in this situation. If he had just stuck with the idea of keeping his son safe, he wouldn't have left his vehicle and be in this bind; but he decided to play hero. And now he will probably never be able to keep his son safe or provide for his family. 

    But this story is not just a lesson in what not to do when confronting a potential criminal, it is also a lesson for someone carrying a weapon as to what could happen if someone saw your weapon. That is, if you were openly carrying or someone was able to spot that you were carrying a concealed weapon, you could end up suddenly facing the muzzle of a pistol held by someone like Myers.