Authorities in the US state of Texas have fired a white police officer after he shot and killed an unarmed black college student.

The incident occurred after 19-year-old Christian Taylor broke into a Classic Buick GMC car dealership at 01:00 on Friday morning in Arlington, a western suburb of Dallas, prompting police to respond.

Surveillance video shows Taylor jumping on and vandalizing vehicles, smashing the windscreen on one, and drove his own driving a car through a window into the showroom.

Recently graduated police officer in training Brad Miller attended the scene along with his training officer.

Taylor failed to respond to Miller’s orders to stop, and the 49-year-old officer shot him four times despite there being no physical contact between the two.

Taylor died from his injuries.

Following the incident, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson called Miller’s pursuit of Taylor “questionable” and said he “exercised poor judgement” in shooting the unarmed Taylor.

Miller has not been charged with a crime, but an internal police investigation is ongoing and it will turn over evidence to a grand jury, which will decide whether to press charges.

The shooting comes as protests have erupted again in Ferguson, Missouri, on the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.