Trial begins for man who shot Kent-Meridian student

Published 4:05 pm Friday, April 24, 2026

The second-degree murder trial began for the man who fatally shot a 17-year-old carrying a BB gun, with his attorney stating that the man’s actions were a lawful use of force.

On April 23 at the King County Superior Court, Aaron Brown Myers, 52, charged with second-degree murder and second-degree assault, sat in a courtroom with a blank stare on his face, looking forward for the majority of the proceedings, while the prosecution and his defense counsel delivered opening statements in a jury trial.

Myers’ charges stem from a June 5, 2024, incident where Myers fatally shot Hazrat “Ali” Rohani, a 17-year-old Kent-Meridian High School student, after Myers saw Rohani with two juvenile male friends walking with BB guns.

According to the prosecution, the three boys were seeking help with their BB guns at Big 5 in Renton, 601 S. Grady Way. Myers, while sitting in the parking lot waiting to pick up his son from a martial arts gym, saw one of the boys holding a BB gun. Myers then approached the boys, pulled out a firearm and told the boys to put their hands up and get on the ground.

Myers then pinned one of the boys to the ground, and a witness heard Rohani and the two other boys tell Myers that they had BB guns, not firearms, before Myers shot Rohani, after he began to turn to run.

“The evidence in this case will show that these shots were not fired out of any reasonable belief of imminent danger. Nor were they shots that any reasonably prudent person would make under the same or similar conditions,” prosecutor Elaine Lee said. “These were shots fired as a result of Mr. Myers’ decision to assault these two boys, to kill Ali right there on the pavement, where he fell.”

According to Lee, the King County Sheriff’s Office was conducting training in the parking lot while the incident occurred, and they immediately arrested Myers. Lee stated that medical personnel then attempted to save Rohani’s life, but he died at the scene. She added that the King County Medical Examiner will tell the jury where Rohani was shot in the back.

Lee said that additional evidence would include Big 5 surveillance video and video from the martial arts gym next door, which she said supports the state’s theory of events. During opening statements, she showed screenshots of the videos as she described the state’s theory.

“The evidence in this case will show that Mr. Myers had every opportunity to make different decisions, reasonable decisions,” Lee said. “The evidence will show that with each opportunity Mr. Myers had, he chose to escalate the situation.”

Myers’ defense statements

Myers’ attorney, Mark Middaugh, had a different theory as to what occurred that day Rohani was shot, and stated that Myers was not a murderer, and at the end of the trial, the jury will be able to find him not guilty.

Middaugh began his opening statement by showing the BB guns that Rohani and his friend had on them the day of the incident. Middaugh stated that the BB guns that Rohani and his friend had that day were hyper-realistic replicas of a Glock 9mm handgun.

“He pointed his gun at Mr. Rohani, and he yelled at him, ‘Put your hands up and get down on the ground,’ but that’s not what he did. Instead, he turned his body sideways, and he dropped his right arm down to the butt of the gun,” Middaugh said. “And when Mr. Myers saw that, he felt he didn’t have a choice. He fired his weapon. This was not a murder. This was lawful use of force.”

Middaugh stated that Rohani had his BB gun in his waistband during the incident, and that based on what occurred during the incident, Myers was entitled to act on appearances and, in that moment, he believed he did what was necessary to protect others and himself.

Middaugh went on to describe who Myers is, citing that he is married, has two teenage kids, and lives in Newcastle. He said that, for a career, Myers was an Emergency Medical Technician, worked in other first-responder roles, joined the military, where he was deployed to combat zones, and, at the time this incident occurred, was working in private security.

Middaugh said that when the incident occurred, Myers was in his parked vehicle watching over the parking lot because, in the past, he had known some crimes had occurred there. He said that video then shows that as Rohani and his friends walked past his vehicle, one of them pulled one of the BB guns out, and he did something to the top that resembled cocking a gun to fire it.

Middaugh said that Myers then responded by stopping them, pointing a gun at them because he thought they were going to do something violent, and instead of the boys getting on the ground, they began to swear at him before there was a scuffle, and Myers ultimately shot Rohani, believing he was in danger. Middaugh said that evidence from the medical examiner will also confirm that when Myers shot Rohani, Rohani had his hand down by his waist.

Middaugh said that the prosecution’s claims that the boys stated that they had BB guns, not real guns, and a witness even reported that it was so, but there was ultimately a lot of conflicting evidence aside from that claim in this case.

“Ultimately, I am confident that in a little over two weeks, when you go back into the jury deliberation room and consider exactly what happened and what the state has proven beyond a reasonable doubt, you will return the only verdict supported by the evidence, and that’s not guilty,” Middaugh said.