TX - Botham Shem Jean, 26, killed when police officer entered wrong apartment, Dallas, Sept 2018

[Rocco]

By all accounts, Mr. Shem seemed like a model person.

1. Attended college
2. Worked for a respected company
3. Sang at his church, was actively involved in his church community.

There are no reports of police involvement, criminal activity. So, I would find it difficult to believe that he was a violent man who threatened this police officer, if that becomes her "defense" for using lethal force.

Her defense attorneys are going to have a tough time. Any attempt to tarnish this man's stellar reputation is going to backfire with a jury IMO. She better hope for a plea deal.

 

[jjenny]

I can give her the benefit of the doubt for now assuming she wasn‘t intoxicated and had no prior history with the victim until proven otherwise. But let’s assume she
- just didn’t put two and two together when her key didn‘t fit
- she didn‘t check the apartment number
- she didn’t notice the red doormat

In Germany, we have a saying ”Dummheit schützt vor Strafe nicht” which means as much as ”You can‘t use stupidity as a defense“.

Even if she felt an intruder was in her home, you just shouldn’t be shooting an unarmed man in his underwear being a trained cop. It‘s not like he was breaking in wielding a gun and she had no other option.

She made a stupid mistake and on top of that, she made a bad choice.

If the intruder was in her home, she'd have a right to shoot such intruder under Texas stand your ground law. She wouldn't have had any issues using self-defense even if that intruder wasn't armed and was wearing only underwear. However, in this case she was the one intruding on someone else.

 

[Gigglingtoes]

I’m going to throw my two cents in because this is some bull.

A) I have 3 children and work 12 hour days. I’m tired too. How do you NOT know this was not your apartment?

B) there is obviously an indication this door did not look the same as her own.

“The apartment doors at the complex are all similar, Kinsey said, but Jean's doorstep had a bright red mat.” Per neighbor. Very important imo
“https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/09/08/us/dallas-police-shooting/index.html

C) “The police officer was a tenant of the building for only about a month, the Morning News reported.”

“Rawlings told reporters Saturday afternoon that Guyger was able to get inside Jean's apartment because the door was open. But that claim was contradicted Saturday evening by a FOX 4 reporter who cited police as saying Guyger was on the wrong floor and the door was closed.

"Her key didn't work in the door," Steve Eager wrote. "Shooting happened shortly after resident opened his own door."

https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxn...shooting-shot-suspect-in-2017-report.amp.html



So what happened in her words..
She showed up super tired. Tried to get in the door. (Which lit up red Bc it’s a key fob and the Apt is not hers and he has a doormat that is RED) and for whatever reason, perhaps her trying to open the door over and over- this man sees a cop at his door and with nothing to hide, opens his door and POW. Shot.

Wow. And she’s out.

 

[Gigglingtoes]

I think it's noteworthy that some cops have a long career in LE and never fire their weapons.

She's shot 2 people in the last 15 months.

She shot the last guy because he was going for another officers taser. Going for an officer's gun I can understand. But a taser? She's lucky she didn't kill him over a taser.

And now this. SMH

Thank you for this.

 

[SuziQ]

I don't have a pic of her door but here's his:
View attachment 146344

A red rug. Not your average doormat that you can confuse! Wth is going on here?

 

[SandyQLS]

Officer Guyger worked at the SE Div at 725 N Jim Miller Rd which is 7.4 miles from the apartments, an 11 minute drive. For a normal shift, she would return her patrol car to her own division, then (presumably) drive home in her personal car. My only point is that she was not assigned to Dallas PD HQ two blocks from the apartments.

I think the Chief was fudging a bit to the press - she knew exactly when Guyger's shift ended, she just did not want to tell the press. We know she worked 12 hours and had made a late arrest.

I am starting to wonder if alcohol after work is a factor...

 

[SandyQLS]

Is not Texas an open carry state? If so, then this case may be simpler than it seems. She was off-duty and open carry, and in the long case history of Texas, a similar situation has probably happened with someone who is not an officer. Follow case precedent with no privilege for female, police, or tired excuses, and don't delay either.

 

[Gigglingtoes]

Not sure if this was posted.

Especially interesting to me: “
“Zadel says residents can access the fourth floor, where Jean lived, only by elevator.”



“I stay on the fourth floor, directly across from what happened. I was walking back into the building … [as] soon as I put my key fob in through this door thing right here, walking down the hallway, that's when I heard the shots.”

After the shots, J.B. says things became quiet.

“I heard the shots, and then after that I went to my door and I didn't hear nothing else. So for me to hear the shots and then nothing else … it's like, 'What the hell was she in there doing?' There wasn't any panic or nothing like 'I had killed the wrong guy' or 'I'm in the wrong spot.' Like, 'I just did it.'”

J.B. says he didn't know a police officer lived in his building.
Zadel speculated that fatigue may have caused the officer to press the wrong button on the elevator, though she doesn't know the officer or where exactly she lives.”


South Side Flats Residents React to Death of Neighbor Botham Shem Jean

 

[SuziQ]

The red doormat gets me. What are the chances she has one just like it? Did she think a burglar broke in and redecorated?

 

[Gigglingtoes]

Is not Texas an open carry state? If so, then this case may be simpler than it seems. She was off-duty and open carry, and in the long case history of Texas, a similar situation has probably happened with someone who is not an officer. Follow case precedent with no privilege for female, police, or tired excuses, and don't delay either.

Texas is open Carey. But Being an Open Carry state doesn’t mean it’s cool to just say “Oopsies! Wrong apartment!” After showing up and shooting someone who was minding their own business in their home though. Noway Jose.

(I recognize you are saying she shouldn’t be treated differently that someone else in her situation)

 

[Gigglingtoes]

The red doormat gets me. What are the chances she has one just like it? Did she think a burglar broke in and redecorated?

Right!!!

Where those drug and alcohol tests at??? Her only hope of anyone having a glimmer of grasping her confusion.

 

[Jennifer17]

The red doormat gets me. What are the chances she has one just like it? Did she think a burglar broke in and redecorated?

It is unbelievable, isn't it? ,Key doesn't work, a door mat at the front door, someone inside and she still thinks it is her apartment?
She doesn't ask what he is doing there? She doesn't stand to the side and observe him when he opens the door, just shoots to kill?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

4 things to know about Botham Jean, the 26-year-old killed in his apartment by a Dallas police officer | Obituaries | Dallas News

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Funeral services for Jean are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at the Dallas West Church of Christ, which Jean attended. Plans for the funeral were announced at a prayer vigil Saturday.
The family has retained the services of civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Dallas lawyer Lee Merritt.
Dallas police identify officer who went to wrong apartment, killed man - CNN

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Investigators are "working as vigorously and meticulously as we can to ensure the integrity of this case and ensure the integrity of the department is upheld," Hall said. The officer was off-duty at the time of the shooting and Hall said her name would be released if she's officially charged.
Dallas police seek manslaughter warrant against officer who killed neighbor
So, is she charged or not? I thought her name has been released.

 

[SandyQLS]

I am extremely ambidextrous and can use a key card easily with either hand. If she was as well then she could have been using her non dominant hand for that.

I understand your point. We are all in fact trained to use all 4 limbs differently while driving a standard transmission vehicle, for example. The time problem in her story is not so much about dominant hand activities as about brain processing to switch hand activities in an exigent 'new' situation. In her story, she made a giant mental leap from key to gun to fire, and the time that took was too much to believe her story.

There is a lot of confusion being offered on this story. First her key was left in the lock, now a FOB video where the key is not actually inserted, and also reports the door was ajar.

Dallas PD is going to need to do a lot better on this story or they may be facing protests that turn into riots given the heated twitter comments.

 

[Jennifer17]

Investigators are "working as vigorously and meticulously as we can to ensure the integrity of this case and ensure the integrity of the department is upheld," Hall said. The officer was off-duty at the time of the shooting and Hall said her name would be released if she's officially charged.
Dallas police seek manslaughter warrant against officer who killed neighbor
So, is she charged or not? I thought her name has been released.

I wonder what it is they have to investigate? It seems pretty clear cut to me. I bet that they tried to dig some dirt up on him.

 

[mickey2942]

I think that a routine blood test for alcohol levels can be determined pretty quickly. If alcohol was involved, that could be the reason that the Texas Rangers have slowed down the process.

The Texas laws are subject to interpretation, she can be charged with murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide. Looks like an enhancement charge may be indicated if she was intoxicated.
PENAL CODE CHAPTER 19. CRIMINAL HOMICIDE

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Police also identified the officer as Amber Guyger, a four-year veteran of the department assigned to the Southeast Patrol Division.

The decision comes one day after Dallas Police Chief Ulysha Renee Hall said police were pursing a manslaughter warrant against the officer in a case she described as having “more questions than answers.”
Dallas police ID officer who went to wrong apartment, killed man

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Guyger started on patrol in the department's southeast division and was later selected as the sole woman on a elite crime response team of about 10 officers who make high-risk arrests in the division's crime hot spots.

Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata said Guyger "is a young dedicated officer who has done an amazing job in her short time with the Dallas Police Department."

The department officially named Guyger as the shooter late Saturday, hours after The Dallas Morning News had identified her. Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall had initially said the department wouldn't confirm the officer's name until she has been formally charged with a crime.

"Our policy is, and I want us to make sure we're as transparent as possible — we wouldn't release any other suspect's name until they are charged," Hall said.
Dallas officer who shot Botham Jean in his own apartment was involved in 2017 shooting of a suspect | Dallas Police | Dallas News