Atatiana Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew when she was shot by a police officer who claims to have perceived a threat.
Aaron Dean, a white American policeman who shot and killed, Saturday, Atatiana Jefferson, a black woman at her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in the presence of her 8-year-old nephew, acted inappropriately and resigned, said Monday, October 14, Ed Kraus, the chief of police.
The 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson family has called for an independent investigation into police and Fort Worth police behavior, and wants a federal service to take over the investigation. "There is no justification for his actions," said the victim's sister, Ashley Carr.
Debate on police violence revived
The tragedy comes less than two weeks after the sentencing to ten years in prison of a white policewoman who had killed a black neighbor while saying that he was mistaken for an apartment, in 2018 in Dallas, about fifty kilometers from Fort Worth.
It arouses strong emotions in this city of 900,000 inhabitants, where hundreds of people expressed their anger Sunday night at a vigil in memory of the victim, and relaunch the debate on police violence against African-Americans, denounced by the Black Lives Matter movement ("the lives of blacks matter").
This time, the case began with a call to the police, on the night of Friday to Saturday, issued by a man worried to see the door of his neighbor's door opened for several hours.
On the scene, two officers bypassed the home and "Observed a person standing near a window", according to a police statement. "Perceiving a threat, a policeman took out his service weapon and fired a shot"according to this document.
The police officer, employed since April 2018 by the Fort Worth police, "Did not announce that he was a policeman before shooting", acknowledged Lieutenant Brandon O'Neil.
Police commit to transparency
Mme Jefferson was playing video games with his 8-year-old nephew when she heard a noise in the garden, said his family's lawyer, Lee Merritt. According to him, she then went to her window to watch what was happening. She died before help arrived. Graduate in biology, she worked in a pharmaceutical company, said her family. She had opened the door to let the air circulate and refresh the house, they added.
The Fort Worth Police, which insures "Share the serious concerns of the public", is committed to the utmost transparency. She posted excerpts from a video of the intervention. We can see agents checking the area around the house with flashlights. After a move to a window, one of them screams "Hands up, show me your hands! " and shoot almost immediately.
