Division II Angelo State DB Christian Taylor fatally shot by police

Graham Watson

Christian Taylor, a 19-year-old defensive back at Division II Angelo State, was shot and killed by a police officer Friday night.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, police were responding to a burglary call at a car dealership in Arlington, Texas. Police said Taylor had used a vehicle to drive through the glass of the showroom window.

From the paper:

“The officers went and confronted him. There was an altercation. An officer discharged his weapon and struck the suspect,” [police spokesman Sgt. Paul] Rodriguez said.

Taylor, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:47 a.m., was not armed, Rodriguez said.

The officer, identified by the department as 49-year-old Brad Miller, graduated from the police academy in March. He has been in field training and working under the supervision of a training officer, the department said.

The training officer and other officers were on the scene when the shooting occurred, Rodriguez said.

Miller has been placed on administrative leave, as is routine in deadly-force incidents.

Rodriguez said both criminal and administrative investigations into the incident were underway. He also said surveillance tape showed Taylor engaging in "criminal activity" before he was shot.

Per the Associated Press, the FBI has been asked to help investigate the incident. During a news conference Saturday night, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said he had spoken to the FBI's Dallas field office early Friday, but stressed the move "in no way diminishes my confidence" in local officers to conduct the investigation.

Clyde Fuller, Taylor’s great-uncle, told the Star-Telegram he didn’t think his nephew was robbing the dealership.

“He was a good kid. I don’t see him stealing no car or nothing like that,” Fuller said. “I think something is going on that somebody is lying about. They say he’s burglarizing the place by running up in there? Nuh-uh. Something doesn’t sound right.”

Taylor was enrolled at Angelo State and preparing to start football camp on Wednesday. Taylor, a sophomore, had two interceptions in the Angelo State’s spring game.

Angelo State coach Will Wagner used Twitter to express his condolences.

Taylor had no previous criminal record after charges from a September 2013 traffic stop when police found 11 hydrocodone tablets that were not prescribed to him was dismissed following served probation.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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