Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who is accused of fatally shooting her neighbor, Botham Shem Jean, in his own apartment Thursday, told authorities she mistook the apartment for her own and thought Jean was a burglar.
Guyger found the door to the apartment open and saw Jean’s “large silhouette,” she said, according to The Washington Post. When he did not respond to commands that she shouted at him, Guyger allegedly shot and wounded Jean in the torso, and he later died in the hospital.
But lawyer Lee Merritt, who is representing Jean’s family, disputes Guyger’s claims.
“There are witnesses who said that before the gunshots, they heard the officer knocking at the door and repeatedly saying, ‘Let me in,'” Merritt told WaPo.
Guyger, 30, was arrested on manslaughter charges Sunday, reported WaPo. Jean, 26, was black. Guyger is white.
She was previously reportedly involved in an on-duty shooting during her four years with the Dallas Police Department. Gugyer was never charged in the May 2017 incident in which she allegedly shot a man who took her stun gun. He was wounded but recovered, reported Fox News.
Guyger’s name was first released by the Dallas Morning News, prompting Dallas Police to confirm her involvement, reported Fox News.
The incident Thursday took place in the South Side Flats apartment complex where both Jean and Guyger resided in Dallas. (RELATED: Report: Trump Administration Met With Venezuelans Plotting A Military Coup)
Our office has been retained to represent the estate of #BothamShemJean. Our first & foremost priority will be to ensure justice is served for this family. That includes holding Amber Guyger accountable for her crimes as well as ID’ing all responsible for enabling this incident. pic.twitter.com/p9tJAiJZOi
— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) September 8, 2018
First-responders found Jean “badly wounded” and he died in the hospital, according to Fox News. Jean was born in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia and had been working in Dallas since 2016, reported Fox News.
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