White Fort Worth Police Officer Fatally Shot ‘Atatiana Jefferson’ a Black Woman In Her Home

Officers were dispatched to the house in the city’s Hillside Morningside neighborhood at 2:25 a.m. after receiving an “open structure” call, according to a statement from the Fort Worth Police Department. A neighbor told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he dialed a non-emergency line and requested a welfare check when he noticed that the door was ajar and the lights were on.

While searching the outside of the house, police said, an officer saw someone standing near a window. “Perceiving a threat the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person inside the residence,” police said.


Firing through a window, a white Fort Worth officer fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson, 28, she died in a bedroom, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Body-camera footage released by police Saturday shows two officers walking quietly around the side of the house and peering through two screen doors, then moving down a driveway into a backyard.

One officer approaches a closed first-floor window and shines a flashlight inside, then swiftly raises his gun. “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” he yells. A split-second later, he fires a shot through the window. He does not identify himself as an officer in the footage.

Along with the video, police released images of a firearm officers said they found at the scene, but did not indicate whether Jefferson was holding the weapon or positioned near it when the officer opened fire. Officials did not release the officer’s name, describing him only as a white male who has been with the department since April 2018. He will be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to the department.

The Original article appeared here.

UPDATE: 

A Fort Worth police officer who fatally shot a black woman in her home while she played video games with her 8-year-old nephew resigned from the force but still could face criminal charges, the interim police chief said Monday.

Chief Ed Krauss said Aaron Dean, who is white, would have been fired and is considered dishonorably discharged from the department. Krauss said the U.S. Justice Department will examine the case for possible civil rights violations.