A white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her Black neighbor inside his own apartment was fired Monday, the same day the man was being buried in his Caribbean homeland. Police Chief U. Renee Hall dismissed Officer Amber Guyger during a hearing Monday, according to a Dallas Police Department statement posted on Twitter .
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) September 24, 2018
Guyger is charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 6 shooting that left 26-year-old Botham Jean dead, and she was fired because of her arrest, according to Dallas police. Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home. She turned herself in three days later and is currently out on bond.
A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that on Sept. 9, Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter.”
Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell later said that when an officer has been arrested for a crime, “adverse conduct” is often cited in the officer’s termination. Mitchell said that adverse conduct is “conduct which adversely affects the (morale) or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer.”
Attorneys for Jean’s family, along with protesters, have been calling for Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, to be fired since the shooting. The family’s attorneys released a statement saying they see the termination as an initial victory.
“However, we are committed to seeing through the next steps of the process of a proper murder indictment, conviction and appropriate sentencing,” the statement said.
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has said the case will be presented to a grand jury, which could decide a more serious charge than manslaughter. One of the family’s attorneys, Lee Merritt, said Jean was being buried Monday in St. Lucia. There are conflicting narratives over what led up to the shooting.
