Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer charged in the shooting death of Botham Jean, was indicted Friday on a murder charge — an upgrade from the “manslaughter” charge at the time of her arrest.
The shooting occurred on September 6, 2018. Guyger claimed she mistook Jean, an accountant, for an intruder in her apartment but realized she had opened fire inside his unit in the same building. She was fired weeks later by the Dallas Police Department.
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson told reporters Friday that the charges were upgraded from manslaughter because “at the moment of the shooting it was a knowing… offense.”
Merritt claimed that she did not realize she was at the wrong apartment until she called 911 and was asked for her location. According to USA Today, the family has questioned her version of events, alleging discrepancies:
An affidavit for a search warrant states that Guyger and Jean encountered each other at the door to his apartment, instead of having an exchange across the room.
After the shooting, Guyger’s blood was drawn to be tested for alcohol and drugs, according to Hall. Authorities have not released results.
Jean was buried late September in St. Lucia, the Caribbean island nation where he grew up. His family and friends memorialized his love of singing. “Several members of Jean’s childhood choir created a video tribute of them signing ‘Lean on Me’ from all over the world because they could not attend,” the Dallas Morning News reported at the time.
Guyger posted a $300,000 bond and will await her trial outside of prison.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.