Aaron Brown Myers faces sentencing July 21 in King County Superior Court.
RENTON, Wash. — A King County jury convicted off-duty security guard Aaron Brown Myers of second-degree murder and assault May 8 in the 2024 shooting death of 17-year-old Hazrat Ali Rohani outside a Big 5 Sporting Goods store.
The verdict moved the case from trial to sentencing nearly two years after the shooting on Grady Way. Prosecutors said Myers, now 52, wrongly treated three teenagers with BB or airsoft guns as armed robbers. The defense said Myers believed he was acting to stop a threat. Jurors rejected that argument after hearing testimony, viewing surveillance video and weighing what Myers told police moments after the gunfire.
Rohani, who went by Ali, was with two other teenagers outside the Big 5 Sporting Goods store at 601 S. Grady Way on June 5, 2024. The teens had gone to the store seeking help with BB guns, according to court records and trial testimony. Myers was not working at the store and was not on duty as a security guard. He was waiting in his vehicle while his son attended a nearby martial arts class. Prosecutor Elaine Lee told jurors that Myers “made decisions based purely on assumptions” after seeing the teens walk toward the store. Defense attorney Mark Middaugh said Myers acted on what he believed he saw in the moment and was trying to prevent violence. “He didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Middaugh told jurors during closing arguments.
Renton police were sent to the store at about 7:38 p.m. after reports of a shooting. Surveillance footage described in court records showed Myers approaching the minors with a handgun raised and aimed. One teen placed a BB gun on the sidewalk and showed open hands. Myers pushed that teen to the ground, held him by the jacket and pointed his gun toward Rohani, according to court records. Rohani appeared in the video with his fingers extended, showing empty hands, and then backed out of view. Investigators said Myers fired multiple rounds. Rohani was shot seven times, including six times in the back, and died at the scene. King County sheriff’s deputies had been training nearby, heard the shots and quickly responded. Deputies and medical personnel tried to save Rohani, but he was pronounced dead outside the store.
Myers told detectives that he saw what he believed was a Glock handgun and thought the teens were going to rob the business. He said he did not have time to call 911 and believed he had a duty to act to protect people nearby, including his son. Prosecutors said the evidence did not support that claim. They said the teens had not hurt anyone, had not entered the store and had told Myers the guns were not real. Court records said one of the boys slowly set a BB gun down before Myers shoved him to the sidewalk. Prosecutors also pointed to police body camera footage in which Myers told officers he believed one teen reached toward a handgun. The state argued that surveillance video contradicted key parts of Myers’ account.
The case centered on a brief encounter that escalated in seconds. Trial testimony showed Rohani and his friends were trying to return or fix BB guns, including a magazine problem, when Myers confronted them. Prosecutors said Myers gave himself authority he did not have, detained the teens at gunpoint and fired after Rohani began backing away. Lee told jurors that Rohani had turned away when Myers shot him. The defense focused on the realistic look of the BB gun and Myers’ stated fear that the teens posed an immediate threat. The jury also heard that Myers had previously reported a separate incident in March 2022 after mistakenly believing a person with a metal object was armed. Police responded in that earlier case and found no gun or threat. No one was injured in that incident.
Opening statements in Myers’ trial began April 23 in King County Superior Court, and closing arguments were held May 6. Jurors deliberated for about a day and a half before finding Myers guilty of second-degree murder and second-degree assault. The assault count involved another teen who prosecutors said was held at gunpoint during the confrontation. After the verdict was read, officers took Myers into custody. Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said the verdict came on what would have been Rohani’s 19th birthday. “It was important to show the facts in this case, and we are very pleased with the jury’s verdict,” McNerthney said. “We thank the jury for their service.”
Myers is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. July 21. Prosecutors have said his sentencing range is about 20.25 to 28.3 years, including time tied to a firearm enhancement. The judge will decide the sentence after hearing from attorneys and, if they choose to speak, people affected by Rohani’s death. An appeal could come after sentencing, but no appeal has been decided. The case drew wide attention in the Seattle area because Rohani was killed while carrying a replica gun near a sporting goods store, not during a robbery. A small memorial formed outside the store after the shooting, and Rohani’s death became part of a wider public debate over armed civilians, private security work and mistaken threats.
Myers remains convicted of murder and assault while the court prepares for the July 21 sentencing hearing. Rohani’s family and friends are now waiting for the final punishment in a case that began with a parking lot confrontation and ended with a jury’s guilty verdict nearly two years later.
Author note: Last updated May 12, 2026.