DALLAS, TX — The Dallas police officer accused of shooting and killing her neighbor after she entered his apartment by mistake, apparently thinking it was her own, was arrested Sunday. Amber Guyger, 30, will be charged with manslaughter in the death of Botham Shem Jean, 26, police said.
The incident occurred just before 10 p.m. Thursday at an apartment at 1210 S. Lamar St. According to reports, Guyger was going home after a shift, still wearing her Dallas police uniform, when she entered the wrong apartment. Police said at a Friday morning news conference that the interaction between Guyger and Jean isn’t clear, but at some point, she fired her weapon, apparently thinking Jean was an intruder.
Faith Johnson, the Dallas County district attorney, said Guyger’s charges may increase from manslaughter to murder, The New York Times reports. This would mean there was a premeditated factor to the alleged killing.
The shooting has reinvigorated a debate over police race relations. Jean is black.
“We’re still dealing in America with black people being killed in some of the most arbitrary ways, driving while black, walking while black and now we have to add living while black,” Benjamin Crump, a Jean family lawyer, told reporters Sunday, according to CNN.
Added another of the family’s lawyers, S. Lee Merritt: “We don’t need evidence beyond a reasonable doubt at this point. At this point, we need probable cause of a crime. And the existence of probable cause is painstakingly clear to everyone.”
Hall has called the shooting is a “very unique situation.”
Other officers responded to the scene and provided first-aid for Jean until paramedics arrived. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall made the decision Friday morning to seek the arrest warrant for Guyger on a manslaughter charge, according to the department’s website. The results of toxicology tests for drugs and alcohol are pending, police have said.
However, there has been criticism over the fact that Guyger was allowed to stay at home after the shooting, leading to accusations of preferential treatment. She was allowed to turn herself in at Kaufman County, a less-populated area, on Sunday, days after the shooting, according to The Times.
A YouTube video uploaded Saturday shows Guyger in the moments after the shooting, according to The Washington Post. She is seen in her uniform pacing on a phone call. A woman is heard sobbing in the video, but it is unclear if it is Guyger.
Jean graduated from Harding University in Arkansas in 2016 and was working as a risk assurance experienced associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his LinkedIn page.
See more: Cop, Accused Of Killing Man, To Be Charged: Police
The Texas Rangers have taken over investigation of the case.
See more at The Washington Post and at NPR.
Article image Amber Renee Guyger: Guyger, a Dallas police officer, was arrested Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018, on a manslaughter warrant in the shooting of a black man at his home, Texas authorities said. The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a news release that Guyger was booked into the Kaufman County Jail and that the investigation is ongoing. It said no additional information is available at this time. (Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office via AP)