Two Seattle Police Department officers are on paid administrative leave after shooting and killing a 22-year-old University of Washington student during a confrontation in the early morning hours of January 1.
Just before 2:00 a.m., police were called to the 5200 block of 17th Avenue Northeast after neighbors reported two men firing off rifles and shotguns in an alley.
When officers arrived at the scene, Miles Murphy approached them wearing a German World War II uniform, carrying a rifle affixed with a bayonet.
According to SPD, officers repeatedly ordered Murphy to drop his weapon; when he would not comply, two officers opened fire. Murphy died at Harborview several hours later.
Police say they found a large collection of Nazi regalia inside Murphy’s home. Although initial media reports called Murphy an “apparent neo-Nazi,” his friends say he was a German Studies major and World War II buff who participated in reenactment battles.
"I think the Nazi thing is being blown out of proportion," says one of Murphy’s friends, who asked not to be identified. "They reenact battles and stuff. [He wasn't] modeling himself after Hitler."
Another of the Murphy's friends, who attended a memorial service for Murphy on New Year’s Day, says she believes the police did not give Murphy adequate time to drop his gun—which she says was filled with blanks—before he was shot. "He was in no way affiliated with Nazis," she says. "He was the type of guy who ... had goofy hobbies. He was a history buff and his interest was shown in the way he dressed."
Indeed, Murphy was featured in a UW Daily fashion article last summer, where he was described as looking like "a figure straight out of a photo taken from World War II."
Murphy’s Myspace page is filled with photos of him in German and Russian military uniforms and Scottish costumes. Murphy’s page lists his greatest fears as large dogs, "drug lords," and the police. In response to a survey question on his page asking what goal he wanted to achieve this year, Murphy answered, “don’t die.”
