Man killed by officer aspired to St. Lucia leadership

Friends and family on Thursday remembered a man gunned down by a Dallas police officer as a deeply religious accountant who loved to sing and had confided to his uncle that he might one day want to be prime minister of his native Caribbean island country of St. Lucia.

Those speaking at the service for 26-year-old Botham Jean at a suburban Dallas church mostly focused on the qualities of the caring man who always had time to help others. Some also spoke about the shocking way Jean, who was black, died — fatally shot on Sept. 6 by the white officer who said she mistook his apartment for her own.

“Our prince royal was snatched from us by the quick-to-trigger finger of one trained to protect and serve. Perhaps the good that might overcome this violent, heinous act will be that those who are trained to serve and protect will serve love and peace and not violence and bullets,” Jean’s uncle, Ignatius Jean, said to applause.

Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings and Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall among those who attended the hymn-filled funeral. Jean, who grew up on St. Lucia, attended college at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, so he could remain within a religious community while getting his education.

At Harding he majored in accounting and information systems and graduated in 2016. He then went to work at the accounting and consulting firm PwC in Dallas.