Late Friday night, an unarmed 19-year-old black male, Christian Taylor, was shot and killed by a police officer in suburban Dallas. Taylor played defensive back for Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. On July 30, less than a week before his death, Taylor sent out a tragically prophetic tweet -- "I don't wanna die too younggggg." Those words are taken from Dallas rapper Post Malone's buzzing hit, "Too Young."
At around 1 AM on Friday night, Arlington police received a burglary call and soon discovered that someone had driven through the window of a nearby Buick/GMC car dealership. Police said they approached the suspect, Taylor. A struggle then ensued during which Taylor was shot and killed.
The police officer who fired the shots has been identified as Brad Miller. Miller, 49 years old, has been with the Arlington police department since last September and was still working under the supervision of a training officer since graduating from the police academy this past March. Miller had no prior experience before joining the Arlington police.
Miller has been placed on administrative leave as a matter of standard procedure as the incident is under investigation. No video evidence has yet been presented.
Since news of Taylor's killing has spread, #ChristianTaylor has become a top trending topic on Twitter and many influential public figures, including Serena Williams have shared their thoughts in attempts to raise awareness. The harrowing "Too Young" tweet Taylor sent out a week ago has also begun trending.
Post Malone has emerged as one of the most talked about hip-hop acts out of Dallas. He came on the scene with "White Iverson" at the beginning of the year, and "Too Young," produced by duo FKi (who also did "Iverson"), was poised to be his next hit. The song is currently approaching 1,000,000 views on YouTube. Listen below.
The way Taylor emphasized "younggggg" in his tweet strongly suggests he was referencing Malone's new track. After tweeting the Post Malone line, which has now been retweeted 12,000 times, Taylor also tweeted about Drake, Meek Mill, Kendrick Lamar, Future, Ab Soul, Kevin Gates and many more rappers. He also often tweeted about police brutality and his feelings of endangerment around police officers.
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