Dallas fires officer after shooting; ex-lawman charged in killing of neighbor, an ex-Arkansan

The Dallas Police Department on Monday fired an officer who fatally shot her neighbor inside his apartment earlier this month, an episode that gripped the city and led to protests over the killing of an unarmed black man in his own home at the hands of law enforcement.

Also on Monday, the man was being buried in his Caribbean homeland.

The department's chief, U. Renee Hall, announced the termination of the officer, Amber Guyger, citing her arrest in the killing of Botham Shem Jean, who lived above Guyger in a Dallas apartment complex. Guyger, who was off duty, entered Jean's apartment the evening of Sept. 6 and fired her service weapon twice, striking him once in the torso.

Guyger, 30, was placed on administrative leave immediately after the shooting and charged with manslaughter several days later. She turned herself in three days after the shooting, and is currently out on bond.

Hall faced mounting pressure to fire Guyger, but she said at a town hall-style meeting last week that state and federal laws prevented her from doing so, without citing specifics. She also argued that taking action could harm the investigation into the death of Jean, 26.

S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Jean family, said Hall called on Sunday night to tell them that despite those concerns, she planned to dismiss Guyger.

During the call, "she had to answer some tough questions specifically about why it took so long," Merritt told reporters Monday, adding that the family saw Guyger's firing as a "victory."

"However, we are committed to seeing through the next steps of the process of a proper murder indictment, conviction and appropriate sentencing," a statement from the family's lawyers said.

Amber Guyger
Amber Guyger

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has said the case will be presented to a grand jury, which could decide a more serious charge than manslaughter.

Hall said Monday afternoon that she had waited until the "critical portion" of the investigation was completed, but she did not elaborate. "As a police chief, my job is to ensure the integrity, the highest level of integrity in this criminal investigation, and that is what I did," Hall said.

A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that on Sept. 9, Guyger "engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter." Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell later said that when an officer has been arrested, "adverse conduct" is often cited in the officer's termination.

Mitchell said that adverse conduct is "conduct which adversely affects the [morale] or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer."

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he agrees with the decision to fire Guyger.

"The swift termination of any officer who engages in misconduct that leads to the loss of innocent life is essential if the Dallas Police Department is to gain and maintain the public trust," Rawlings said in a statement.

Merritt also said that Jean would be buried Monday in his home country, St. Lucia.

Tensions have remained high in the nearly three weeks since the killing of Jean, who graduated from Harding University in Searcy. Protesters demanding justice have rallied in the streets and disrupted a City Council meeting, while Dallas police officers have said they believe Guyger's version of events.

Guyger has told investigators that she mistook Jean's apartment for her own, that his door was slightly ajar and that it opened when she tried to unlock it. But lawyers for Jean's family have said the door was closed and that neighbors heard someone banging on the door, demanding to be let in, before the gun was fired.

During a visit to New York last week, Jean's mother, Allison Jean, said her son had explained to her how the relationship between black men and the police in America was different from how it was back home on the Caribbean island.

"I always told him, 'Why do you have to be so dressy?'" Jean, a former senior official in the St. Lucia government, said in an interview. "He said 'Mom, I don't want to be stopped. I don't want for them to think I'm somebody I'm not.'"

Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Haag of The New York Times; and by Ryan Tarinelli of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/25/2018

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