On Thursday, September 6, Botham Shem Jean, an unarmed man, was fatally shot in his own home by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. Jean, a 26 year old native of St. Lucia, lived in the same building complex in the apartment directly above Guyger.
As her story claims, Guyger was coming home and did not realize she was on the wrong floor. The door to the apartment was slightly open, and even though she consciously noticed her key card was not working, she entered the home. In response to seeing the room dark with the outline of a figure which she believed was a burglar, Guyger pulled out her firearm and shot Jean twice; he later died in the hospital and Guyger currently faces a charge of manslaughter.
While Guyger’s story first seemed reliable, witness accounts are now drawing a different picture for the authorities. Neighbors in the same complex claimed that they heard Guyger knocking on Jean’s door demanding that he let her in. Another neighbor claims that Jean’s apartment had a bright red doormat in front of it which most likely would have caught Guyger’s attention.
Lee Merritt, the attorney for Jean’s family, also questioned statements in Guyger’s affidavit. As he mentions, the building’s doors close automatically, so it would have been extremely unlikely for the door to be left ajar. Merritt also revealed that in the past and on the day of the shooting, noise complaints were filed coming from Guyger’s apartment toward Jean’s apartment.
Jean’s family was devastated. Jean was a young man with a stable job and full of positivity. His mother, Allison James, said he was a person who, “loved mankind,” and wanted nothing more than peace and for “all of us to unite.” Jean’s family has also been upset about the lack of information and updates they have received since the incident. As Lee pointed out, “The promise of transparency to this family has been a blank check,” in response to the fact that it took three days for Guyger to be charged.
With details of the case still being sorted, there is a chance that Guyger’s sentence could be changed to something more severe. While the truth is still being uncovered, people of the community and the Black Lives Matter movement are beginning to see this as a case of racial profiling. Guyger does happen to be a white woman, while Jean was a black male. As Diane Ragsdale, a Dallas City Council member, said, “Race matters.” This tragic event also brings up patterns of police brutality, which is often targeted at black men. As Co-Counselor, Benjamin Crump stated, “We’re still dealing in America with black people being killed in some of the most arbitrary ways, driving while black, walking while black and now we have to add living while black.”
