Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer who is facing a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of Botham Jean a St. Lucian national, has been fired.
This information was confirmed via a news release from the Dallas Police Department on Monday according to a WFAA and Dallas News Report.
The firing seems to come off the conclusion of an internal affairs investigation that found Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct” when she shot Jean in his apartment on 6th September.
The news release said that “Officer Guyger was terminated for her actions.”
Chief Renee Hall had earlier said that Federal and State laws were preventing her from firing Guyger.
Civil Service rules allow Guyger to appeal her firing. She still has to face an ongoing criminal investigation into the mater.
The following details from the Dallas Rangers arrest warrant affidavit provide context for the shooting:
Guyger had just gotten off duty and in returning to her compartment complex parked on the wrong floor in the parking garage.
Guyger lived in an apartment a floor below Jean but mistook his apartment unit for hers.
She found Jean’s apartment door “slightly ajar” and inserted her key to open the door fully. She found a “large silhouette” across the room to whom she issued commands. When the silhouette (Jean) ignored the commands she then presumably fired on him.
A separate search warrant affidavit which was written by a Dallas police detective before the Dallas Ranger’s arrest warrant was issued described a slightly different account.
In the earlier version of events, Jean’s door was also open when Guyger inserted a key but the affidavit notes that Jean “confronted the officer at the door.”
A neighbour also reported to the police that he “heard an exchange of words, immediately followed by at least two gunshots.” The exact distance between Guyger and Jean was not indicated in either affidavit.
Several protests were held insisting on Guyger’s firing and asking that her manslaughter charge be upgraded to murder.
There was at least one protest scheduled to be held on Monday night.
Protesters also rallied near Jean’s apartment to the downtown Dallas area on 14th September. Two days later, in a highly symbolic move, another protest wheeled a coffin to the entrance of the AT&T stadium before an American football game between the Cowboys and Giants.
This woman should not be a police officer. She does not have the mental stamina for the work that is probably what led to the fatal mistake.
This I did not want to hear in this sad situation.,being charged and convicted would have covered FIRED!!