A Washington jury convicted Aaron Brown Myers after weighing a self-defense claim against parking lot footage and testimony.
SEATTLE, Wash. — Surveillance video and witness testimony helped jurors convict Aaron Brown Myers in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Hazrat Ali Rohani outside a Renton sporting goods store.
The May verdict ended the trial phase of a case built around a few minutes in a shopping center parking lot. Myers, an off-duty armed security guard, said he believed a teen with a gun was about to commit a robbery. Prosecutors said the evidence showed something else: three teenagers trying to return or exchange BB or airsoft guns, an armed adult who intervened without authority, and a shooting that continued after the danger Myers claimed to fear had passed.
The most important facts came from what jurors could see and hear. Prosecutors presented footage and testimony showing Myers approach the teens while armed. They said the boys tried to tell him the guns were not real. The state’s case focused on the moment Rohani showed empty hands, turned away and was struck. Prosecutors said Myers shot him seven times, including six times in the back, as Rohani lay or fell near the store entrance area.
Myers’ lawyers did not deny that he fired the shots. Their case rested on whether he reasonably believed he faced an imminent threat. Defense attorney Mark Middaugh told jurors that Myers acted on his training after seeing what he believed was a handgun. Middaugh said Myers feared the teen was reaching for a weapon. The defense described the shooting as a fast decision made under stress, not an execution or an act of anger.
Prosecutors said the footage undercut that defense. They argued Myers created the crisis when he chose to confront the teens with a drawn gun. They said he was off duty, was not hired to guard the store and had no police power over the parking lot. They also told jurors that a person who starts a confrontation cannot later claim fear without accounting for the choices that brought the confrontation to that point.
The shooting happened June 5, 2024, near a Big 5 Sporting Goods on Grady Way in Renton. Police were dispatched at about 7:38 p.m. to a report of gunfire. Officers found Rohani dead or dying at the scene and contacted Myers nearby. Rohani had gone to the store with two other teens because they wanted help with BB or airsoft guns. The store visit became part of the trial because it showed why the teens had replica guns in the first place.
Myers told officers he had been watching the area while his son attended a martial arts class nearby. He described his conduct as “overwatch,” according to earlier police and court accounts. Prosecutors used that statement to show Myers had taken on a role that no store, police agency or property owner had given him. The defense used the same background to argue Myers was alert to possible danger and was trying to protect others.
The jury also heard about the second teen who survived the confrontation. Myers was convicted not only of second-degree murder but also of second-degree assault, a charge tied to holding another boy at gunpoint. That count gave jurors another way to judge Myers’ conduct before the fatal shots. Prosecutors said the assault showed that Myers controlled the scene with a firearm before any real evidence of a robbery existed. Rohani’s age weighed heavily in the public attention around the case, but jurors were asked to decide legal elements, not public anger. They had to decide whether prosecutors proved the murder and assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The state argued that Myers acted intentionally and unlawfully. The defense argued that his fear, even if mistaken, was tied to what he believed was a real firearm. The guilty verdict showed the jury found the state’s proof strong enough.
The verdict came almost two years after the shooting and after trial testimony that began in late April. Closing arguments took place May 6. Jurors then deliberated before finding Myers guilty. Court coverage showed Myers and supporters reacting emotionally before he was placed in handcuffs. The judge ordered him held while awaiting sentencing, a sharp change from the pretrial period, when he had been out on home monitoring.
King County prosecutors said Myers faces a lengthy prison term because of the convictions and firearm enhancement. Reports from the prosecutor’s office placed the range at more than 20 years and up to about 28 years. The final sentence will be set by a judge, not the jury. Prosecutors and the defense can argue over the proper punishment, and victim impact statements may be part of the hearing.
The case now stands between verdict and punishment. Myers is no longer presumed innocent on the charges, but his prison term has not been imposed. The next hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 21 in King County Superior Court, where the court will decide how long he will remain in custody.
Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.