Dallas Cop Who Killed Man in Own Home, Claimed She Thought He Was Intruder Is Indicted for Murder
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer accused of fatally shooting her neighbor in his own apartment was indicted on murder charges Friday, PEOPLE confirms.
The indictment came three months after Guyger fatally shot Botham Jean, 26, on Sept. 6, after she returned home from work. Guyger had initially been charged with manslaughter.
The 30-year-old told investigators at the time she accidentally entered Jean’s Dallas apartment thinking it was hers and believed Jean to be an intruder. Jean worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and hailed from Saint Lucia. He was a graduate of Arkansas’ Harding University, his family told CNN.
Following her arrest, Guyger, a five-year veteran of the department, was fired, the New York Times reports.
An arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE alleged that on the night of Jean’s death, Guyger parked her car on the fourth floor of her apartment complex’s garage and entered the fourth-floor hallway. Her apartment is on the third floor, directly below Jean’s residence.
Though each apartment required a “unique door key, with an electronic chip” to gain access, Jean’s front door was “slightly ajar” when Guyger arrived and it opened “under the force” of her entering her key, the affidavit states.
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Inside, the apartment “was nearly completely dark,” Guyger told investigators, adding that when she saw Jean she assumed he was a burglar.
She said she drew her weapon and “gave verbal commands” to Jean that she said he ignored, the affidavit states. She then fired her service revolver twice, hitting Jean once in the torso.
Lee Merritt, an attorney retained by Jean’s family, alleged at a news conference days after the shooting that Guyger’s version of events conflict with what he had learned about the altercation.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Merritt told reporters he had two witnesses — sisters who lived in the complex — who allege they heard Guyger pounding on Jean’s front door in the moments before the gunfire.
“She heard, ‘Let me in,’ followed by ‘Let me in,’ in an elevated tone and then she heard more pounding at the door,” Merritt said. “Then shortly thereafter she heard gunshots.”
Guyger had not yet entered a plea on her misdemeanor charge. Attorney information for her was unavailable Friday.
