A former Fort Worth officer has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, according to jail and court records.
Aaron York Dean, 34, resigned from Fort Worth Police Department on Monday morning. Early Saturday morning, he shot and killed Jefferson, 28, inside her home on Allen Avenue while responding to a call from a neighbor about the front door being open, police said.
Dean was listed as an inmate in the Tarrant County Jail as of 6:50 p.m. Monday night, according to records
Former Fort Worth officer arrested, charged with murder in shooting death of woman
I don’t know Murder, but it certainly looks like a firm case of Manslaughter. I forget where I read/heard that it looked more like a negligent discharge than outright shooting. Having his finger on the trigger under stressful circumstances does not excuse him of the killing whatsoever.
I will usually give the police the benefit of the doubt. Not this time. Unless there is some information that changes things that’s yet to come out, the officer in this case is totally at fault. Why didn’t he or his partner knock on the open door and announce themselves as police? Why did they respond guns drawn? Why didn’t he identify himself when demanded that the victim put her hands up? Why did he shoot so soon after demanding she raise her hands? Yeah, murder is probably overcharging, but I think the problem is deeper than one idiot cop.
They completely f’ed up. They hadn’t identified themselves and she had no chance to respond in any way. 100% on the cop.
The big question (which will probably come out at trial) is whether this is individual failure of the cop in question, or systemic failure of the department. That translates into: did the chief decide to fire the cop because it was the right thing to do, or as a CYA action?