Former police officer indicted for murder after shooting woman through window

FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County grand jury on Friday indicted former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, who is accused of killing Atatiana Jefferson.

Grand jurors indicted Dean, 35, of Arlington, on a charge of murder.

Dean was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson in October, hours after he resigned. The former officer has been free on $200,000 bail, which he posted shortly after he was arrested.

Jim Lane of Fort Worth, Dean’s attorney, and prosecutors declined to comment on Friday because a gag order has been issued in the case.

“Marquis Jefferson, the father of Atatiana Jefferson, died 28 days after her death on Nov. 9th of a broken heart,” said Bruce Carter, a spokesman for the Jefferson family, in a

Friday email. “His heart was broken when the bullet of Aaron Dean killed his only child. The Jefferson family believes Mr. Jefferson was killed by the same bullet that killed his daughter.”

Dean, who is white, shot and killed Jefferson, a 28year-old black woman, inside her home on Oct. 12 while responding to a call from a neighbor about doors at the house being open, police said.

Jefferson was playing video games with her 8year-old nephew in their home, according to an attorney hired to represent her family, when she heard a noise outside and looked out of her window.

Body camera footage of the shooting shows two officers using flashlights to check the perimeter of the house, inspecting two doors that are open with closed screen doors. The officers then go through the yard to the back of the house, where Dean appears to see a figure through a dark window, and he quickly twists his body to the left.

“Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” he shouts through the window, his gun drawn. He then immediately fires a single shot through the window, killing Jefferson, the video shows. Dean didn’t identify himself as an officer, according to the video.