A 47-year-old Oregon man is facing murder charges after allegedly shooting a Black teenager to death in a parking lot over loud music, according to OregonLive.
The tragic case of 19-year-old Aidan Ellison is already drawing comparisons to the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Jordan Davis and sparking outrage locally for how the incident is being portrayed.
According to the Ashland Police Department, both Ellison and Robert Keegan were staying at the Stratford Inn when they got into an argument at 4 a.m. on Nov. 23. Police believe that during the argument, Keegan pulled out a gun and shot Ellison once in the chest.
Ellison was "beyond help" when Ashland Fire and Rescue responders arrived, according to the Ashland Police Department.
In a Facebook post, Ashland Police chief Tighe O'Meara explained that the shooting resulted from an argument over loud music. But his phrasing, and the way he focused on Keegan's life, caused outrage. Local news outlet KTVL was forced to scrub one of O'Meara's initial quotes because it "may have been in poor taste."
Other news outlets faced backlash for focusing the story on Keegan, who was displaced by the recent Almeda Fire.
But activists who spoke to multiple news outlets said the focus on Keegan's life by both police and the press were startling considering how senseless Ellison's death was.
A candlelight vigil was held in the Stratford Inn parking lot on Thanksgiving in Ellison's honor, according to local outlet Fox26. Sunmoon Oh, a friend of Ellison, said the teen was like a brother to him and that he often experienced homelessness.
“I could tell you all the stereotypical stuff. He was special, he was kind he was a great guy, but he was so much more than that. He had nothing, but yet even if he had something he would give it to you no questions asked,” Oh said. “I see all these posts saying RIP Aiden and my heart dropped. I didn’t go to work that day, I barely ate anything that day, I just kinda sat on my bed and cried.”
#AidanEllison should be alive today but Robert Keegan fatally shot him over “loud music” — BUT this was NOT about music. That’s false justification for killing a Black teen!
This was a racially motivated shooting by a suspected white supremacist!! #JusticeForAidanEllison
pic.twitter.com/ApYFkZJcMv— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) November 29, 2020
This is my cousin y’all. And his name was Aidan. #AidanEllison
https://t.co/nLlxnr5XZt— Queen T ✨ (@_LuxeVanity) November 30, 2020
Important questions to ask about #AidanEllison murder:
1. Why why didn’t Ashland Police render aid on arrival?
2. Why did the Chief of police condemn both for “getting into arguments that unnecessarily resolve in violence.”
3. Why hasn’t Keegan been charged with a hate crime?— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) November 29, 2020
Local news outlet NBC52 reported that another protest is scheduled for Dec. 2.
Keegan pleaded not guilty on Nov. 27 to second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, and reckless endangering.
Keegan is being held without bail and will appear in court on February 21, 2021, according to The Washington Post.
In an interview with OregonLive, Precious Edmonds, a spokesperson for the Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists and Community Coalition, said that a meeting is planned for Dec. 7 to let people share how they felt about Ellison's death.
“He was listening to his music too loudly — that’s irrelevant. It doesn’t change a thing, how good the man who shot him was. All of those things are not relevant to what occurred. But that’s the narrative, that’s the frame of white supremacy,” she told the newspaper.
“The murder of Aidan Ellison is another example of Southern Oregon’s racist history with and current practice of white supremacy,” the Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists and Community Coalition said in a statement on Facebook.
“Aidan was murdered because he was a young Black person who made a white man uncomfortable and refused to submit to that man’s personally-perceived authority – not because he was listening to music too loudly,” the group added.
