Police chief says ‘no excuse’ for shooting
FORT WORTH: The furore on Tuesday over the killing of a black woman by a white Fort Worth officer became increasingly about a gun pointed at a bedroom window. But the police chief and activists said the focus was on the wrong gun.
Officer Aaron Dean was arrested on a murder charge on Monday in the slaying of Atatiana Jefferson. Police released an arrest warrant on Tuesday quoting the victim’s 8-year-old nephew as saying Jefferson had pulled out a gun after hearing suspicious noises behind her house.
Black politicians and others criticised the police and the media for bringing up Jefferson’s weapon, angrily accusing the department of trying to deflect blame onto an innocent victim.
“The Fort Worth Police Department is going about the task of providing a defence for this officer,’’ said Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Jefferson family.
Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus himself declared there was “absolutely no excuse” for the killing and said Jefferson behaved as any Texas homeowner would have on hearing a prowler. It wasn’t clear from the warrant whether Mr Dean even saw her weapon.
The killing early on Saturday shocked people across the US and led many black people to wonder once more whether they are no longer safe from police in their homes. Earlier this month, a white former Dallas officer was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a black neighbour in his own apartment. She said she mistook his place for hers and thought he was an intruder.
Mr Dean, 34, resigned and was arrested on Monday for firing a single bullet through a windowpane while investigating a neighbour’s report about the front door being left open at Jefferson’s home. Jefferson was staying up late, playing video games with her nephew.
Police bodycam video showed Mr Dean making his way around the side of the house into the backyard in the darkness and opening fire a split second after shouting at the 28-year-old Jefferson to show her hands. He did not identify himself as a police officer.
In the warrant, Jefferson’s nephew said his aunt had taken a gun from her purse and pointed it at the window. Over the weekend, the Police Department also stirred anger by releasing images of the gun inside the home.
State Rep Harold Dutton, a black Democrat from Houston, blamed the media in part.
“Why would you publicise that Ms Jefferson had a gun in her home?” he asked. “I’m sure the police told you that. But that was her Second Amendment right, and equally as important, it had nothing to do with the incident for which we are here about. Too often, you, the media, have been complicit in throwing dirt on the victim while ignoring the real culprit, current law enforcement.”
Rep Nicole Collier, a Democrat from Fort Worth, likewise complained about the tendency to focus on things that could exonerate police officers, “like showing marijuana or showing a handgun when people are rightfully in their own home.”