Update 9/24/18: Amber Guyger, the Dallas
police officer who murdered Botham Jean in his own home, has been fired, according to a
statement released by the Dallas Police Department.
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“We don’t want it lost on anyone that, had this been a regular citizen, she would have never left the crime scene,” Merritt said, according to the New York Times.
According to
Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, “At the very early stages of this investigation, initial indications were that they were what we consider circumstances of an officer-involved shooting.” Per department policy, even though she was off-duty, Guyger was considered an “involved officer” not a “regular citizen.”
At that time, Chief Hall
stated her intention to seek an arrest warrant on manslaughter charges, but declined to name the officer.
According to the department’s
General Orders, the night of the shooting, Guyger would have been required “to relate a brief account of the incident to the first supervisor to arrive and to that supervisor only.” DPD’s General Orders also dictate that “involved officers must ‘undergo a debriefing interview in the investigative offices to establish the detailed facts surrounding the incident.’”
While Guyger did provide details of the incident on the night of, a debriefing interview did not occur. Reached for comment, DPD tells Rolling Stone, “All of the information we have released about this incident has been posted to
our blog,” and directed any questions to the Texas Rangers.
Guyger’s official account of the incident was given in her first interview — to the Texas Rangers — sometime on Saturday, and is contained into the
arrest affidavitthey filed on Sunday.
According to the
affidavit, Guyger said the door was “ajar,” but she still inserted her key card and the “force” made the door open.
The lights were off and Guyger claims it was too dark to tell that she was in the wrong apartment, but she did see a silhouette moving across the room. Guyger drew her weapon, “gave verbal commands that were ignored,” and then fired twice, hitting Jean once in the chest and abdomen. Guyger dialed 911 before turning on the lights; that’s when she realized her mistake.
Guyger’s account of the incident in the affidavit contains new details and key differences from
early reports by the local media. For example, on Saturday,
thelocal NBC news affiliate, citing an anonymous police source, wrote that Guyger “struggled with the lock” and was “fight[ing] with the key when the resident swung open the door.”
In that account, the shooting happened in the doorway to the apartment. The story was syndicated by other NBC news outlets. NBC has since
deleted the account of the anonymous police source (an archived version of the article is preserved
here) “due to conflicting reports of the incident from various sources.”
***Much more @:
Dallas Cop Fatally Shoots Black Man in His Home: Questions Remain – Rolling Stone
