White man, 47, 'shot a black teenager, 19, dead because he was playing loud music in his car outside Oregon hotel where they were both staying'

A white Oregon man has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter for fatally shooting a black teenager during a heated argument over loud music. 

Robert Keegan, 47, of Talent, Oregon, entered the pleas on Friday in connection to the deadly confrontation that took place between the suspect and 19-year-old Aidan Ellison on the morning of November 23 at the Stratford Inn hotel in Ashland. 

According to a press release from the Ashland Police Department, both Keegan and Edison were guests at the hotel on Siskiyou Boulevard.

Robert Keegan, 47 , has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter, reckless endangering and unlawful possession of a weapon in the killing of 19-year-old Aidan Ellison in Oregon last week 

Both Keegan and Ellison had been staying at the Stratford Inn hotel in Ashland, Oregon 

Keegan had been staying at the inn with his young son after being displaced from their home by the Almeda wildfire in early September. 

The incident began unfolding at around 4.20am last Monday, when Keegan reportedly confronted Ellison about playing loud music in his car in the hotel parking lot. The men did not know each other prior to the incident. 

During the verbal dispute, Keegan allegedly pulled a gun from his coat and fired a single shot that struck the 19-year-old in the chest, killing him. 

Keegan remained at the scene and was detained for questioning by police who were summoned.  

Keegan was later booked into the Jackson County Jail on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, reckless endangering and unlawful possession of a weapon. 

Police said Keegan (pictured with his young son, left) shot and killed Ellison after the two got into an argument about the teen playing loud music in his car. The 19-year-old homeless man suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest  

In a follow-up statement, Ashland Police Chief Tigher O'Meara clarified his previous comments concerning a possible motive behind the shooting, stressing that Ellison's playing loud music did not excuse Keegan's actions.  

'The only thing that caused this murder was suspect's actions, 100%,' O'Meara wrote. 'It is completely immaterial what led up to it.

The police chief of Ashland, Oregon, said Ellison was not killed 'because of loud music,' but because Keegan 'chose to bring a gun with him and chose to use it, 100% on him'  

He continued: 'Yes, there was an argument over music, no, this did not happen because of loud music, it happened because the suspect chose to bring a gun with him and chose to use it, 100% on him, not the poor young man that was murdered.'

Police have not said whether race played a role in the shooting, but local activists have argued that the act of violence was racially motivated. 

'The murder of Aidan Ellison is another example of Southern Oregon’s racist history with and current practice of white supremacy,' the group Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists, and Community Coalition said in a statement. 'To be clear 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.'

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney, sounded a similar note, writing on Twitter: '#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.'

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump weighed in on Ellison's killing, arguing that it was radically motivated 

Sunmoon Oh, a close friend of Ellison's, told the station Fox 26 that the 19-year-old had been homeless. 

'He had nothing, but yet even if he had something he would give it to you no questions asked,' said Oh, who described Ellison as being like a brother to him. 

Keegan has been ordered held without bail pending his next court appearance on February 22, 2021.