Dallas cop charged with manslaughter in alleged ‘wrong apartment’ shooting death

Amber Guyger, the Dallas, Texas, police officer who shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean when he was in the apartment she thought was hers, was arrested Sunday and charged with manslaughter. When the 30-year-old Guyger, a four-year veteran with the Dallas Police Department, got off work Thursday evening, she went home and went to her apartment building but later told police she was on the wrong floor of her building when she entered an apartment she though was her own. When she encountered Jean in that apartment, she shot and killed him, according to a September 10 report from MSN.

Following her Sunday night arrest, Guyger was booked into the Kaufman County Jail and later released on $300,000 bail. Guyger is a Dallas resident. Her shooting victim is a native of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

MSN reported that the shooting took place around 10 p.m. in the South Side Flats apartment building located south of Dallas’ downtown area. Guyger was off-duty at the time of the fatal shooting.

Police said in a statement Friday that the officer “returned to what she believed to be her apartment after her shift ended,” and that “she was still in uniform when she encountered Mr. Botham Shem Jean inside the apartment.”

Police said it wasn’t clear what interaction occurred between the officer and the victim, but at one point the officer fired her weapon and struck Jean. The officer then called 911, and firefighters transported Jean to a hospital where he died. ~ per MSN

The results of a blood test conducted on Guyger have not yet been released.

Jean was a student at Harding University in Arkansas where officials say he “frequently led worship for chapel and for campus events,” according to USA Today. His heartbroken mother, Allie Jean, wants to know exactly what led up to her son’s shooting. She wants more details from the officer that shot and killed her son.

“Come clean. Speak the truth. I’m a Christian and I will forgive her, but she could never give me my son back,” said Jean’s mother.

Jean’s mother speculates that the shooting could have been racially motivated. ABC News quoted the distraught mom as saying, “If it was a white man, would it have been different? Would she have reacted differently?”

In addition to Jean, Guyger has one other shooting on the books. While on-duty on May 12, 2017, she shot Uvaldo Perez. Guyger was not charged in that shooting. ABC News reports:

According to an affidavit in the case filed against Perez, police were looking for a suspect when Guyger and another officer were called to assist a third. Perez got out of a car and became combative with Guyger and another officer. A struggle began and Guyger fired her Taser at Perez, who then wrested it away from her. She then drew her gun and fired, wounding Perez in the abdomen.

The Dallas Morning News reported that, as part of a plea deal, Perez began serving a two-year prison stint this February on that charge of taking an officer’s weapon. For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.