Darrien Hunts' sword had a rounded edge, so he could hardly have seriously threatened anyone with it. It appears that, before the thugs shot him, he was making moves with the sword as a form of pretend play, away from other people.

The most dangerous looking thing about him was his skin color. If you're a black male, in the US, people will often perceive your actions as dangerous; if a while male did the same thing, people would not consider it dangerous. Over and over, this leads thugs to kill innocent people.