murder of Botham Jean

On the night of September 6, 2018, 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean was murdered in Dallas, Texas by off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger, who entered Jean's apartment and fatally shot him. Guyger, who said that she had entered Jean's apartment believing it was her own and believed Jean to be a burglar, was initially charged with manslaughter. The absence of a murder charge led to protests and accusations of racial bias because Jean—an unarmed black man—was killed in his own home by a white off-duty officer who had apparently disregarded police protocols. On November 30, 2018, Guyger was indicted on a charge of murder. On October 1, 2019, she was found guilty of murder, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment the following day. The ruling was upheld on appeal in 2021. Murder Botham Jean and Amber Guyger lived in South Side Flats, a four-story apartment complex located at the corner of South Lamar Street and Powhattan Street—two blocks northwest of the headquarters of Dallas Police Department, for which Guyger worked as a patrol officer—in the Cedars district in South Dallas. The floor plans for each level of the building are mostly identical. Guyger's apartment on the third floor (number 1378), in which she had lived for approximately two months by the time of the murder, was located directly below Jean's apartment on the fourth floor (number 1478). On September 6, 2018, Guyger left work at 9:33 p.m. at the end of a 13.5-hour shift. She drove to the apartment complex, parking her vehicle in the parking garage of the fourth floor at 9:46 pm. At this time, she was speaking over the phone with her partner, who had telephoned her during her journey home, in a conversation which lasted until 9:55 pm. Still armed with a handgun but no longer wearing a body camera, Guyger walked to Jean's apartment, supposedly believing it was her own and failing to notice any signs that she was on the wrong floor, including a distinctive red doormat outside the apartment. Attempting to unlock the door, she noticed it was ajar. She entered the apartment and found Jean, who was sitting in his living room eating ice cream, unarmed. Guyger fired her handgun twice at Jean, striking him in the chest. She would later testify that she believed him to be an intruder, and that she feared he would kill her. Guyger telephoned 9-1-1 at 9:59 pm. Jean was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his wound.