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An Iowa teenager is dead after police shot him following a family dispute on Monday. He was unarmed.

Now, his family is questioning why officers opened fire and killed their son, 19-year-old Tyler Comstock, after a car chase with police that ended on Iowa State University’s central campus in Ames.

His family, explaining to the media how the teen found himself in a car chase with police, argue that police weren’t justified in shooting in Comstock’s vehicle six times. The events leading up to that tragic shooting were triggered by an argument between the young man and his father.

“He just wanted a pack of cigarettes, and his dad wouldn’t buy him a pack of cigarettes and he freaked out,” the teen’s mother, Shari Comstock, told the Iowa State Daily.

Upset, Comstock reportedly got into his father’s car and took off. His father, James Comstock, called the police to report his car stolen.

“He took off with my truck. I call the police, and they kill him,” James Comstock told the Des Moines Register. It is believed that the truck belonged to the lawn care company for which the father and son both worked.

After James Comstock’s call, police were soon on the teenager’s tail. Comstock, however, reportedly refused to stop his vehicle and rammed into an officer’s car. Police then pursued him to Iowa State University’s campus in Ames.

Eventually surrounded by cops, Comstock finally came to a stop on the school’s Central Campus, but the young man reportedly ignored orders to turn his engine off.

According to the Huffington Post, an officer named Adam McPherson opened fire, striking Comstock twice. Six shots in all were fired.

“So he didn’t shut the damn truck off, so let’s fire six rounds at him? We’re confused, and we don’t understand,” Comstock’s step-grandfather, Gary Shepley, told the Register.

“Why the hell would they chase him into campus with all the people?” she told the State Daily. “Tyler would never hurt anybody, ever. He was just a scared child. He’s pretty rational when he calms down.”

However, police maintain that Comstock put many lives in danger when he drove through the campus.

No officers have been charged in the shooting.

SOURCE: Huffington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty