Published May 10. 2018 08:01AM
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — An eastern Pennsylvania prosecutor has ruled that a state trooper was justified in shooting and killing a suspected shoplifter wearing a wig and a mask in a Walmart parking lot.
Lehigh County authorities said the trooper fired nine times, killing 26-year-old Aaron Ibrahem of Mertztown during a foot pursuit March 28 in the Lower Macungie Township store lot.
District Attorney James Martin said Wednesday that Ibrahem failed to comply with many commands to stop, and the trooper fired only after the suspect pointed and tried to fire a semi-automatic pistol.
State troopers said they confronted Ibrahem in the store because he matched the description of a shoplifter who pulled a gun on a Walmart employee in Schuylkill County a few weeks earlier.