The Liberal Gun Club Forum

DALLAS -- A Dallas police officer returning home from work shot and killed a neighbor after she said she mistook his apartment for her own, police said Friday. The officer called dispatch to report that she had shot the man Thursday night, police said. She told responding officers that she believed the victim's apartment was her own when she entered it.

Brown [former Dallas police chief] had made Dallas a watchword for what policing reform can achieve, with critics of haphazardly deployed lethal and physical force by police praising his 2013 move to require officers to revisit their training six times a year instead of once every two.

Police killings dropped each year from 2013 to 2016, Radley Balko noted in a piece praising Brown after his retirement announcement. Hall has continued her predecessor’s policies, including his commitment to speedy and transparent personnel decisions when officers betray the public’s trust. She fired two officers on Thursday for off-duty crimes, including domestic abuse and drunk driving, announcing the decisions publicly in the same style Brown had adopted in firing 70 different officers in his six-year run atop the department.

The Texas Rangers have postponed seeking a warrant on manslaughter charges against an officer who shot and killed a man in Dallas, police said Saturday. Police also identified the officer as Amber Guyger, a four-year veteran of the department assigned to the Southeast Patrol Division. he decision comes one day after Dallas Police Chief Ulysha Renee Hall said police were pursing a manslaughter warrant against the officer in a case she described as having "more questions than answers." Thursday, Hall said the officer, who is white, shot the black man after mistakenly entering his apartment at the complex where she also lived.

Botham Shem Jean, 26, a native of St. Lucia who worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, died at a hospital, police said. In a statement Saturday, the police department said the Texas Rangers took over the investigation to "eliminate the appearance of any potential bias" and "they made the decision to postpone pursuing a warrant until they could follow up on information that they received from the interview with the officer. ... "On behalf of the Dallas Police Department, we are continuing to pray for Mr. Jean's family, and ask that the community remain patient as this investigation is conducted," Hall said in a statement.

The shooting took place Thursday night at the South Side Flats. "A female Dallas police officer returned to what she believed to be her apartment after her shift ended -- she was still in uniform when she encountered Mr. Jean inside the apartment," Hall said Thursday. The police chief said it isn't clear what "the interaction was between her and the victim. Then at some point she fired her weapon striking the victim." The officer called 911 and officers "responded in about four minutes," Hall said. "Right now, there are more questions than answers," Hall said. Her initial remarks at a news conference were also posted on the Dallas police blog.

Alyssa Kinsey, Jean's next-door neighbor, told CNN she was home on the phone Thursday night when she heard a shot. She said she then heard what sounded like "running steps" and a female voice calling the police. Kinsey said she could see from her patio that the lights were turned on in Jean's apartment. She said she heard more footsteps outside her apartment, a woman's voice and a commotion. The apartment doors at the complex are all similar, Kinsey said, but Jean's doorstep had a bright red mat. She said she met Jean when she first moved into the South Side Flats in April. "He was great, as a neighbor -- quiet, friendly, super chill," Kinsey said. "Never had parties. We would chat about life, smiling and laughing. He had a huge smile."

Hall said police aren't handling the case under the department's usual officer-involved shooting protocol. "At the very early stages of this investigation -- initial indications were that they were what we consider circumstances of an officer-involved shooting," Hall said. "However, as we continued this investigation it became clear that we were dealing with what appears to be a much different and very unique situation." "A blood sample was drawn to test for drugs and alcohol, we are in the process of obtaining a warrant, and we have also invited the Texas Rangers to conduct an independent investigation," she said, referring to the state law enforcement agency.

Jean was listed on LinkedIn as a risk assurance experienced associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He earned a bachelor's degree at Harding University in Arkansas. "This is a terrible tragedy," Jean's employer said. "We are simply heartbroken to hear of his death." Jean described himself on LinkedIn as a "young professional, engaged in developing a career built upon integrity, dedication and relationships, leveraging useful technologies to gain an understanding of and add value in a range (of) industries, striving towards leadership in my career, my community and society." Funeral services for Jean are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at the Dallas West Church of Christ, which Jean attended during his time in Dallas. Plans for the funeral were announced at a prayer vigil at the church Saturday evening.

The officer who killed a man in his apartment Thursday after she apparently mistook it for her own home also shot a suspect during an arrest in 2017.

Amber Guyger, 30, who has been with the department for almost five years, was not indicted in the 2017 shooting of the suspect who had taken her Taser from her during a struggle.

“She is devastated," said a Dallas police officer close to Guyger who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "She is so, so sorry for this family.”

Guyger had moved into the South Side Flats complex about a month earlier and had never met Jean, the officer said. Guyger started on patrol in the department's southeast division and was later selected as the sole woman on a elite crime response team of about 10 officers who make high-risk arrests in the division's crime hot spots.

In 2017, Guyger shot 47-year-old Uvaldo Perez, who had wrestled a Taser away from her.

Another officer had been in a Pleasant Grove neighborhood looking for a woman who had a warrant out for her arrest. When the officer thought he saw the woman in a car with two men in the 8300 block of Reva Street, the officer asked for backup from Guyger and another officer, according to an affidavit. One of the officers was trying to search Perez when he became combative, the affidavit said. Guyger deployed her Taser before Perez was able to take it from her.

After Perez had the Taser, Guyger fired her gun once, striking him in the abdomen, the affidavit said. Neither Guyger nor the other officers were injured in the 2017 shooting.

Police arrested Perez on a charge of taking a weapon from an officer, as well as charges for possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and violating his parole.

In February 2018, Perez signed a plea agreement for the charge of taking an officer's weapon and was sentenced to two years in prison.

The department officially named Guyger as the shooter late Saturday, hours after The Dallas Morning News had identified her. Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall had initially said the department wouldn't confirm the officer's name until she has been formally charged with a crime.

"Our policy is, and I want us to make sure we're as transparent as possible — we wouldn't release any other suspect's name until they are charged," Hall said.

In other officer-involved shootings, Dallas police have promptly identified the officers involved. But Hall said this situation “is not an officer-involved shooting, this is a shooting involving an off-duty officer.”

dougb wrote: Sun Sep 09, 2018 11:20 am She isn't going anywhere. There is no statute of limitations on murder. Get all the facts possible, then charge. She has legal protections from the same source as the rest of us, and as our knowledge comes from the press, we don't know what actually happened. The families attorney doesn't get to decide what the charges are or if there are charges at all.

That being said, I don't see her with a happy outcome on this.

SilasSoule wrote:So how would this work if I had gone to a neighbor's home and shot him for no apparent reason, and claimed it was just a mistake? Would the cops let me walk while the DA carefully reviews possible charges?

SilasSoule

So how would this work if I had gone to a neighbor's home and shot him for no apparent reason, and claimed it was just a mistake? Would the cops let me walk while the DA carefully reviews possible charges?

max129 wrote:Thanks for the update Chuck!

I should also have said: I do trust the Texas Rangers.

SilasSoule wrote:I wonder if there was even a conversation?

Cop (drawing pistol): Who the f*** are you?

Resident in his underwear: Who the f*** are you?

Cop: What are you doing in my apartment?

Resident: This is MY apartment!

Cop (looking at the number on the door): Wow, my bad. It's been a long night. Sorry to bother you!

Chuck64 wrote: Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:20 am Is it at possible that this was a tragic mistake? Did she really believe she was at her apartment?
It’s been over 25 years since I’ve lived in a apartment and I don’t believe I ever went to the wrong apartment.
Where I lived was just a 2 story walk up so it was easy to know what floor you were on.


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