Posted on 10/15/2019 12:39:14 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
A murder warrant for Aaron Dean, the Fort Worth officer who killed Atatiana Jefferson, tells what led up to the shooting from the perspective of her 8-year-old nephew, who was in the room with her when she was shot.
The boy told a forensic interviewer that he and his aunt were playing video games together about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when she heard noises outside. She took her handgun from her purse and pointed it “toward the window” before she was shot, the nephew said, according to the arrest-warrant affidavit.
The 8-year-old saw his aunt fall to the ground. Jefferson, 28, was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m.
Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said at a news conference Tuesday that it “makes sense that she would have a gun if she felt that she was being threatened or there was someone in the backyard.”
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
From what I have read, the window in question is on the BACK side of the house, not the front.
The Police were looking around the house prior to announcing their presence, and this young woman paid with her life - while still inside her house.
I noticed in the stories I read that a gun was found on the floor near her after she was shot. That implied she had a gun in her hands.
How visible that gun was to the officer that shot her we don't know. The young boy's statements - if they are reported accurately and hold-up at the trial - indicate he saw his aunt point the gun out the window.
The cop says he saw the weapon, felt a threat and shot.
It looks like the events as they unfolded haven't completely come out yet so I'm reserving judgement here.
All I can think about is that poor young boy who saw his aunt get shot and die. Cannot imagine the trauma that's going to leave with him for the rest of his life.
Throw enough of them in jail - AND their supervisors - maybe things will change.
Then sue the bejeebers out of the city. Million dollar personal injury suits. And massive Civil Rights Violation Fines and Penalties. Punish the taxpayers who vote liberal scumwads into office who appoint and hire JBT's.
Thanks for your reply.
It really stands out as well reasoned and well expressed compared to the others.
“Poor training and compromised test standards usually manifest in situations like this.”
You ascribe this to training and testing.
I ascribe it to the dark heart of a man anxious to kill. And there is no training to overcome that.
Everything you say is true. Where it goes wrong is when the cop starts shooting at an unidentified target. I can see how that could happen under stress given the human tendency of fear. That doesn’t justify the killing. So what you wrote may well explain what happened, but the officer is still in the wrong and must pay for taking the life of an innocent bystander through his own negligence. It makes is more sad and tragic, but doesn’t make his crime any less of a crime. He negligently caused the death of another person. I think manslaughter is a more appropriate charge than murder, but he still needs to be tried on charges.
Yep. Cop should have taken cover, said “police” and asked if anybody was inside. Snooping through windows at 2:30 AM doesn’t strike me as good policing. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.
completely agree with RULE 4 and clearly that did not happen...I was just giving a different perspective NOT necessarily my perspective.
I do not blame her in the least...she was an innocent who got killed. I just don’t necessarily think the killing was purposeful (ie a cop who was looking to kill someone) just sheer and utter stupidity of a newer officer who clearly was not trained well or again utterly stupid and should have never been on the force. Either way, sad sad situation.
Poor Lady.
” He negligently caused the death of another person. I think manslaughter is a more appropriate charge than murder, but he still needs to be tried on charges.”
yes personally I would think manslaughter a very fair sentence due to questions surrounding the incident. But yes, even if it ended up being new on the force (reacting instead of thinking, whatever the reason), too many things he did wrong and he will have to pay the price for those decisions.
So if you were the police officer thinking that a burglary might be in progress, and you look into a window and see a person pointing a gun at you, obviously you would have calmly and cooly stepped back and walked away? Come on. This is a tragedy and the a holes that are pandering to the civil rights crowd are disgusting.
That's cleaning it up for them, and it's probably necessary. They'd be wise to start vigorously policing themselves. The "good" ones will find that process a lot less painful than any of the alternatives. I doubt they have the guts, individually or culturally, to do it.
His presence should have been made known rather than skulking around outside of normal approach or curtilage. Seems he was trespassing....
*********
You are expecting low paid cops, possibly with families, to assume all the risks and receive no rewards. If a cop reasonably fears that there might be a criminal in a house, he had better do some “skulking” around first. Why should any cop in that position have to announce his presence, especially in he sees somebody in the house with a gun? If a cop in that situation thinks like you and announces his presence, he could end-up dead.
Unless you are a mind-reader, you don’t know what she saw. My vision is not that good and is getting worse as I age. It probably is a near a low at 2:30 in the morning.
Try this.
You are in your home and for whatever reason you are watching a bright TV screen at 2:30 in the morning. Your front door is open and you are enjoying bit of cool air from the night, relaxing in your home.
Suddenly you hear some scuffling outside on the house or the bushes and it sounds too loud for a cat or such. You think you see something at the window but you can’t make it out with your bright TV lighting up the living room and sending glare off the window and your eyes still not adjusting to dark after watching TV.
Your gun is just feet away and you can either try to close the front door unarmed, or you can get your gun and be armed when you approach your open door to close it. You get the gun. You turn back to the window and see the face of a man dressed all in what appears to be black. Cops don’t usually wear white or lemon yellow.
You are armed in your house with the front door open and a man looking at you through your window. The last thing you are thinking is “police”. And in any event you don’t see the lights of a patrol car, which might have helped her think “police” and he didn’t identify himself as a police man.
I can see a woman being in fear for her life at that time. 2:30 at night. No man in the home. Front door is open. A unknown stranger outside with uncertain intentions.
It is not as if she was on her porch when a patrol car stopped, lights flashing, a uniformed officer got out lit up by the porchlight and she just drew down on him.
It is very unlikely she knew a police officer was on the other side of that window. Very unlikely.
You've got a lot of pent up anger, and you are completely unfamiliar with the concept of fairness. You seem to have some sort of visceral hatred for cops. Perhaps you've had bad experiences with them. So have I, but I still know how to be fair and reasonable, even if I don't like the people involved.
He is still responsible for her death, but this moves the needle on his degree of punishment. Might even result in an acquittal, but I think he will be offered a plea deal, and will probably take it.
You must like horror movies.
You are in your own home playing video games with your nephew, with the door open cooling the house. Suddenly there appears a threat outside the window, just feet from the open door. You can...
A) Arm yourself for self-defense before you return to close the door,
B) Approach the door unarmed and hope you can close it before the threat reaches the door and attacks you, rapes you, tortures you, mutilates you, and murders you,
C) Hide behind the chain saws
This. Very bad judgement to go prowling in someone's back yard without announcing your presence.
OTOH, this story might have had a different outcome if the poor woman had been confined to a wheelchair...Oh wait....
The Tarrant County DA called it murder.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.