A police officer who shot and killed a black woman in her home in the presence of her 8-year-old nephew acted inappropriately and has resigned, the chief of police said Monday, after Atatiana Jefferson’s surviving family called for the man to be fired and charged.
Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said he expects there will be a “substantial update” by Tuesday on whether the former officer, Aaron Dean, will be criminally charged.
Dean — who’s been on the force since April 2018 — has had no previous incidents, aside from a traffic accident, said Kraus. He also said that had Dean not resigned, he would have been fired.
In a statement released on the weekend, Fort Worth police said officers responded about 2:25 a.m. Saturday after a neighbour called a non-emergency line to report Jefferson’s front door had been left open.
One of those officers then drew his duty weapon and fired after “perceiving a threat.” The body camera video released by police shows two officers searching the home from the outside with flashlights before one shouts, “Put your hands up, show me your hands.” One shot is then fired through a window.
In the video, the officer does not identify himself as police.
“Nobody looked at this video and said that there’s any doubt that this officer acted inappropriately,” Kraus said.
“I feel like we had some failures here,” Fort Worth Police Officers Association President Sgt. Manny Ramirez told reporters after the news conference. “It never should have happened.”
At a previous news conference at police headquarters on Sunday, police Lt. Brandon O’Neil confirmed the officer did not announce he was police before he fired the fatal shot, and his failure to do so is part of the department’s investigation.
O’Neil also confirmed Jefferson’s nephew was in the room when she was shot. He said representatives of the police department have spoken with the woman’s family and “shared our serious and heartfelt concern for this unspeakable loss.” Her family has said she was watching her nephew at the time.
“You didn’t hear the officer shout, ‘Gun, gun, gun,”‘ family lawyer Lee Merritt said after viewing video taken from an officer’s body camera. “He didn’t have time to perceive a threat. That’s murder.”
“Why this man is not in handcuffs is a source of continued agitation for this family and for this community,” Merritt said at a news conference on Monday.
Merritt said the officer’s firing was “the least we should expect.”
“We are not looking for a slap on the wrist,” said community activist Cory Hughes. “We are demanding that he be charged like the criminal he is.”
“It’s another one of those situations where the people that are supposed to protect us are actually not here to protect us,” said Jefferson’s sister, Amber Carr.
It makes you not want to call the police department.– James Smith, neighbour
“You know, you want to see justice, but justice don’t bring my sister back,” Carr said.
An aunt, Venitta Body, said the family does not understand why Jefferson was killed.
“It’s like from the moment we got the call, it’s been more and more inconceivable and more confusing. And there has nothing been done in order to take away that confusion,” Body said.
A large crowd gathered outside Jefferson’s home Sunday night for a vigil after earlier demonstrations briefly stopped traffic on part of Interstate 35.
‘Atatiana Jefferson should be alive’
James Smith, who called a police non-emergency number about the open door, told reporters he was just trying to be a good neighbour.
“I’m shaken. I’m mad. I’m upset. And I feel it’s partly my fault,” Smith said. “If I had never dialled the police department, she’d still be alive.”
Smith said Jefferson and her nephew typically lived with an older woman, who’s been in the hospital.
“It makes you not want to call the police department,” he said.
In an audio recording of Smith’s call that was released by police, the neighbour said it was “not normal” for the house to leave its front door open for hours at that time of day.
Merritt said Jefferson’s family expects “a thorough and expedient investigation.”
The Fort Worth Police Department said it released bodycam footage soon after the shooting to provide transparency, but any “camera footage inside the residence” could not be distributed due to state law. However, the video released to media included blurred still frames showing a gun inside a bedroom at the home. It’s unclear if the firearm was found near the woman, and police have not said the officer who shot her thought she had a gun.
The police statement released Saturday said only that officers who entered the residence after the shooting found a firearm. Police did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Sunday.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, on Sunday called on the Justice Department to investigate.
The killings of unarmed Black Americans have got to end. Atatiana Jefferson should be alive. The Department of Justice must investigate this. <a href=”https://t.co/GbZNVyF0Yw”>https://t.co/GbZNVyF0Yw</a>
—@BernieSanders
Jefferson was a 2014 graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, the university said.
Merritt told the Star-Telegram that Jefferson was working in pharmaceutical equipment sales and was considering going back to medical school.
According to a demographics report released by the Fort Worth Police Department, nearly two-thirds of its 1,100 officers were white as of June 30. Just over 20 per cent were Hispanic or Latino and about 10 per cent were black.
Relations with the public have been strained after other recent Fort Worth police shootings. In June, the department released body camera footage of officers fatally shooting a man who ignored repeated orders to drop his handgun. He was the fourth person Fort Worth police had fired upon in 10 days.