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U.S. NEWS Saturday 1 december 2018
Grand jury: Dallas officer's shooting of neighbor was murder

By RYAN TARINELLI that it was murder all diately after the shooting highly unusual.
Associated Press along," Dallas County Dis- and whether race played Dallas Police Chief Renee
DALLAS (AP) — A white for- trict Attorney Faith Johnson a factor in her decision to Hall said her department
mer Dallas police officer said. use deadly force. continues "to feel anguish"
was indicted on a murder After finishing her shift, After the indictment was over the shooting. She de-
charge Friday, nearly three Guyger told investigators , issued, Guyger turned her- scribed it as a "tragic event"
months after she fatally she returned home in uni- self in and posted bond and asked people to pray
shot an unarmed black form and parked on the a second time. She had for Jean's family.
neighbor whose apartment fourth floor of her apart- been free on bond since Jean's killing thrust Dallas
she said she entered by ment complex's garage, her arrest. into the national conversa-
mistake, believing it to be rather than the third floor, With the murder charge, tion about the intersection
her own. where her unit was locat- she faces up to life in prison of race and law enforce-
Amber Guyger told fellow ed, according to an affida- if convicted. A manslaugh- ment, a dialogue revived
officers that she opened vit prepared by the Texas ter charge would have by the high-profile trials of
fire when Botham Jean ap- Rangers. brought a sentence of up officers charged with mur-
peared in the darkness. She said she got to what to 20 years. der in police shootings. This undated photo provid-
ed by the Mesquite Police
Jean's relatives joined the she thought was her apart- Her attorney, Robert Rog- In October, white Chicago Department shows Amber
district attorney for the an- ment — Jean's was directly ers, said he was not sur- officer Jason Van Dyke was Guyger.
nouncement of the charge. above hers — and found prised by the indictment, found guilty of second- Associated Press
Jean, a 26-year-old native the door ajar. She opened citing the political pres- degree murder in the 2014
of the Caribbean island na- it to find a figure standing in sure surrounding the case on-duty shooting of black ver was convicted of mur-
tion of St. Lucia, attended the darkness. She said she and a wave of "vindictive teenager Laquan McDon- der for firing into a car filled
college in Arkansas and pulled her gun and fired emotion" targeting his cli- ald. Van Dyke shot McDon- with black teenagers leav-
had been working in Dallas twice after the person ig- ent. He said Jean's mother ald 16 times. ing a house party in 2017.
for accounting and con- nored her commands. testified before the grand And in August, white former Fifteen-year-old Jordan Ed-
sulting firm PwC. Guyger has since been jury, which he described as Dallas-area officer Roy Oli- wards was fatally shot.q
"I truly believe that she in- fired from the department,
flicted tremendous evil on and Jean's family has filed a
my son," Jean's mother, lawsuit against Guyger and
Allison said after the an- the city of Dallas. The fed-
nouncement. "He didn't eral suit argues that Guyger
deserve it. He was seated used excessive force in the
in his own apartment." shooting and contends the
Guyger was arrested on a department did not give
manslaughter charge three her adequate training.
days after the Sept. 6 shoot- The circumstances of the
ing, prompting criticism that shooting sparked outrage
the original charge was too and led many to question
lenient. But Johnson said at Guyger's account. Crit-
the time that the grand jury ics, including Jean's family,
could upgrade the charge, also wondered why it took
which it did Friday. three days for Guyger to be
"When you look at the facts charged, why she was not
of this case, we thought taken into custody imme-