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Fort Worth police officer shoots and kills black woman inside her home

I get all that. But this forgiving egregious slights that’s are race based so publicly is beyond a lot of people. It’s of course going to make people upset especially younger people. I get older folks are conservative and all that. But y’all acting like we forgot the whole issue and just concentrated on that one thing. Nobody is getting justice here

I feel you. Like I said, I'm not a fan of the public apology either. I believe there is merit in the criticisms you're making. I just think the whole thing was overblown and that is at least partially because people were going at dude so hard.

We don't need all the psychological babble.
I hate white supremacist, I'm pro-black, and I believe in justice. That's my baggage.
My ideas come from history. And doing the thing that solves the problem.
That forgiving behavior does not solve the problem and what Botham did would be considered traitorous in past conflicts.
As it should be.

Meanwhile, you want to act like we're wrong for making it a controversy.
That hurts nothing, but our enemy's narrative.
Without the controversy, the public perception could be that black people forgive racist killers.
We don't want that. We shouldn't.
So not only do I recognize that shit becoming a focus, I'm glad it did.

The lives of three black people were ruined in that case while that murderer got hugs and treated like a victim.
You keep trying to paint it like something is wrong with us when all we're expressing is how we value black lives.
So if you truly did agree this conversation would not be happening.

lol What are you talking about? When did I say you guys speaking out against the downplaying of black lives or even the kid's actions were wrong? Ya'll just make up shit. My problem was dude trying blame the hug and people who support forgiveness for this murder. That's fucking stupid, and you know it. This cop didn't go into that shooting like "Amber was forgiven, so I'll be alright if I kill this chick." Killer cops been destroying black lives. They are the enemy. It serves no purpose shifting any blame from them and putting it on misguided and naive blacks who were just doing what they believed was right.

Anyways, on topic, I can't wait to see what kinda excuses they come up with this time. Has the body cam footage been released yet?
 

Lawyer for slain woman's family says Fort Worth police should not be investigating themselves

(CNN) — A lawyer for the family of a black woman who was fatally shot inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home by a white police officer says an outside agency should be brought in to investigate the killing.

"We don't think that Fort Worth police should be investigating it on their own," attorney Lee Merritt told CNN Sunday. He said police reached out to his clients, but they'd rather talk with independent investigators about the shooting.

Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, 28, was killed around 2:30 a.m. Saturday after a neighbor called dispatchers to report the woman's front door was open, police said.

James Smith, Jefferson's neighbor, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he called a non-emergency police number when he saw her doors open and lights on in the early morning hours.

The officers were searching the perimeter of the woman's home when they saw a person standing inside near a window and one of them opened fire, killing her, police said.

At a news conference Sunday, police spokesman Lt. Brandon O'Neil said the officer did not identify himself as a police officer before shooting.

Jefferson's 8-year-old nephew was inside the house at the time, O'Neil said. Merritt said Jefferson was playing video games with the boy.

O'Neil said the officer who fired the shots will be interviewed on Monday by the department's major cases unit.


Some body camera footage released


Hours after the shooting, police released a heavily edited version of the officer's body camera footage. The nearly 2-minute video shows officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes before one of them yells, "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" and shoots his weapon through a window.

"The Fort Worth Police Department is releasing available body camera footage to provide transparent and relevant information to the public as we are allowed within the confines of the Public Information Act and forthcoming investigation," police said.

In a statement, police said the officers entered the home and gave the woman medical treatment, but she died at the scene.

Police have not named the officer, who joined the department in April of last year. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

'I'm shaken. I'm mad. I'm upset'

Smith, the neighbor who called police, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he knew Jefferson was home with her nephew when he saw the doors of the house open, and was concerned about them.
He told the newspaper he was trying to be a good neighbor and called authorities so they could check on Jefferson.

"I'm shaken. I'm mad. I'm upset. And I feel it's partly my fault," he told the news outlet. "If I had never dialed the police department, she'd still be alive."

This was the ninth police-involved shooting in 2019 by Fort Worth Texas Police. Seven of those were fatal, according to O'Neil.

The department said that it "shares the deep concerns of the public and is committed to completing an extremely thorough investigation of this critical police incident to its resolution."

The Fort Worth Police Officers Association issued a statement Sunday that said, in part: "Any loss of life is tragic, but the reported circumstances surrounding this incident are heartbreaking. ... We are urging the Forth Worth Police Department to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, and through that investigation we hope to gain clarity and understanding of what exactly transpired."


'Put your hands up! Show me your hands!'

Officers responded to the woman's home after dispatchers received a call around 2:25 a.m. from a person saying his or her neighbor's front door was open, police said.

In the body camera video, when the officers first arrive at the house, the door is open and the lights are on, but no one can be seen.

The officers then walk around the home and into the dark holding a flashlight. At some point, one of them quickly approaches a window with his weapon drawn.

Within seconds, the officer yells, "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" and fires through the window. He does not identify himself as a police officer before firing his weapon.

The officer drew his weapon and fired one shot after "perceiving a threat," police said. The officers found a firearm when they entered the room, the department's statement said.

The video released by police shows two mostly blurred clips that appeared to be from inside the home, showing a firearm.

At the Sunday news conference, a reporter asked O'Neil if Jefferson was holding that handgun when the officer shot. O'Neil declined to answer.

CNN requested the unedited body camera footage, an incident report and dispatch audio from the dispatch call that prompted the response. But a police spokesperson said nothing additional will be released at this time.

'You know, you want to see justice'


Merritt, a civil rights lawyer, told CNN that Jefferson was a 2014 graduate of Xavier University with a bachelor of science degree in biology. She worked in pharmaceutical sales and had moved into her ailing mother's home to take care of her. She had three siblings.

"It's another one of those situations where the people that are supposed to protect us are actually not here to protect us," Jefferson's sister, Amber Carr, told CNN affiliate KTVT. "You know, you want to see justice, but justice don't bring my sister back."
Merritt drew a parallel to another high-profile fatal police shooting in the region.

"Like most people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they were following the Amber Guyger trial fairly closely and were familiar with the issues at hand with the use of force by a police officer," he said.

Guyger was a white Dallas police officer who walked into a black man's apartment, thinking it was her own, and shot and killed the man. She was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison. Merritt represents the family of the slain man, Botham Jean.
Merritt has started a "Justice For Atatiana Jefferson" Gofundme page.

"There was no reason for her to be murdered," the page says. "None."
 

'No forgiveness for this one': Outrage builds over police shooting of Fort Worth woman in her home


The officer who shot the 28-year-old woman was identified by police only as a white male who has been on the force for about 18 months. USA TODAY
Community activists and the family of a black woman fatally shot by police in her Fort Worth home after playing video games with her nephew are expressing outrage and demanding justice.

The shooting early Saturday of Atatiana Jefferson comes less than two weeks after Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was convicted of shooting Botham Jean, a black man killed in 2018 as he ate ice cream in his apartment.

Police released almost two minutes of body camera video of the Fort Worth shooting that shows officers, armed with guns and flashlights, circling the home. The video ends with an office shouting "Put your hands up, show me your hands" before the sound of one gunshot rings out.

Jefferson, 28, was shot through a window. The officer who shot her was identified by police only as a white male who has been on the force for about 18 months. Police also released a photo of a gun found in the home.

Lawyer S. Lee Merritt, who represents the families of Jean and of Jefferson, said Jefferson had been playing video games with a nephew before Saturday's shooting. He said police had provided no connection between the gun found inside the home and the shooting.

"The murder of this innocent woman represents a breaking point," Merritt said. "Atatiana Jefferson should be enjoying her family today. A clear message has been sent – we are no longer safe in our own homes."

Police said officers had responded to a call from a neighbor who noticed the home's door was open at about 2:30 a.m. Officers arrived at the home, found the door open, searched the perimeter and observed a person standing inside near a window, police said in a statement.

"Perceiving a threat, the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot, striking the person inside the residence," the statement said.

Jefferson died at the scene, the statement said. The officer was placed on administrative leave. Police said body camera video from outside the house was released in an effort to provide full transparency, but that privacy rights restricted release of video from inside the home.

The department "shares the deep concern of the public" the statement said, promising a thorough investigation.

"Before law enforcement goes about their pattern of villainizing this beautiful peaceful woman, turning her into a suspect, a silhouette, or threat, let me tell you about 28 y/o #AtatianaJefferson 'Tay'," Merritt said in a Facebook post.

Merritt said Jefferson was a pre-med graduate of Xavier University who worked in pharmaceutical sales. And she was very close to her family, he said.

"She was the auntie that stayed up on Friday night playing video games with her 8 year old nephew," Merritt said. "Her mom had recently gotten very sick, so she was home taking care of the house and loving her life. There was no reason for her to be murdered. None. We must have justice."

Neighbor James Smith, who called police about the open door, said he was being a good neighbor.

"There was no reason for her to be dead, because there was nothing violent going on. ... They had no reason to come here with guns drawn," he told nbcdfw.com. “I’m shaken. I’m mad. I’m upset. And I feel it’s partly my fault. If I had never dialed the police department, she’d still be alive.”

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price released a statement promising prayers, love and support for the family – and a thorough investigation.

Community activists and religious leaders also expressed support for the family and for a thorough investigation, telling nbcdfw.com the probe must be expedited.

Brotherhood Movement member Malikk Ed referred to the Guyger trial, where the judge hugged Guyger after she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"We will not stand down on this one," Ed said. "There's no Kumbaya for this one. There's no forgiveness for this one. There's no judge-hugging-officer for this one."

Bishop Mark Kirkland, with the Greater Saint Mark Church, said he could help his flock learn how to survive urban warfare. But he wasn't sure how to guard against this type of shooting.

"Who is going to teach my village what is it like to survive in your own home?" he said. "I'm calling on the chief of police, I'm calling on the mayor. I'm calling on all the leadership of this city to move with lightning speed because for this thing to go at a horse and buggy pace would be catastrophic."
 

Fort Worth Woman Was Playing Video Game With Her Nephew When Shot by Police

FORT WORTH — Minutes before she was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer, Atatiana K. Jefferson was playing video games in her bedroom with her 8-year-old nephew, a lawyer for her family said Sunday.

Ms. Jefferson, 28, was proud of being the “cool auntie” to her siblings’ children, and had stayed up into the wee hours of Saturday morning with her nephew, Xbox controllers in their hands, according to S. Lee Merritt, the family’s lawyer. But the pair grew concerned around 2:30 a.m., he said, when they heard rustling outside the house and saw flashlights.

A neighbor had called the police after seeing Ms. Jefferson’s front and side doors ajar, a call he later said he regretted making. The two responding officers quietly crept around the dark house, where Ms. Jefferson lived with her mother.

After unlatching a fence door and walking into the back yard, a white male officer saw Ms. Jefferson, who is black, through her bedroom window. He shouted for her to put her hands up and immediately fired a single shot through the glass, according to body camera footage released by the department. The officers do not identify themselves as police in the video.

Ms. Jefferson’s nephew was still in the bedroom when she was killed, the police said.
The killing of a young woman in her own home devastated Fort Worth leaders and residents, who on Sunday said they were still struggling to make sense of the chain of events. About 100 people gathered in front of Ms. Jefferson’s home on Sunday evening, chanting, holding signs and registering people to vote.
Several attendees openly carried weapons, including one man with a rifle who was calmly directing traffic.

Many drew parallels between Ms. Jefferson’s death and the killing of Botham Jean, a black accountant who was shot to death by a white off-duty police officer in his Dallas apartment last year. The officer in that case, Amber Guyger, was fired, and on Oct. 1 was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Ms. Jefferson’s mother had followed Ms. Guyger’s trial closely and had seen Mr. Merritt on television representing the families of Mr. Jean and a witness, the lawyer said.

The Police Department has not named the officer, but said in a statement that he had perceived “a threat,” although a spokesman declined to elaborate. The officer had been with the department since April 2018 and has now been placed on administrative leave.

Lt. Brandon O’Neil, a department spokesman, said at a news conference that the department was continuing to investigate the shooting, and would look at why the officer did not identify himself as a police officer. The officer is scheduled to be interviewed by the department’s major case unit on Monday.

Officers tried to provide medical care, but Ms. Jefferson was pronounced dead by 3:05 a.m., according to the Tarrant County medical examiner. Police said they had found a gun in the room — not the one the officer used — but have declined to answer further questions.

“Law enforcement has not said that she wielded a weapon,” Mr. Merritt said, adding that she owned a gun legally. “Also, it wouldn’t matter, because that’s her home.”
Kelly Allen Gray, a city councilwoman who represents the neighborhood where Ms. Jefferson was killed, said it did not make sense that a neighbor’s concern could lead to a woman’s death.

“I’m still struggling with the fact that a neighbor called, concerned about a neighbor, and this is the result that came from that care and concern,” said Ms. Allen Gray, who has lived in Fort Worth her entire life. “That cannot be the end of stories of people who care about each other. This cannot be the ending.”

James Smith, the neighbor who made the call to the police, told local news media that he had first checked on Ms. Jefferson’s house himself after his niece told him that the house’s doors were open. Seeing the lights on and hearing nothing inside, he called a nonemergency police number to have officers make sure everyone was safe.
In his call to the police, which the department released on Sunday, Mr. Smith said in a measured tone that it was unusual for the doors to be open and that he wasn’t sure anyone was home. “I’m calling about my neighbor,” he told the operator at the beginning of the call.

Dana Williams, Mr. Smith’s niece, said her uncle was shaken and too distraught to talk to reporters. He was particularly upset, she said, that the police had parked on an adjacent street, rather than pulling up in front of Ms. Jefferson’s house or into her driveway.
Ms. Williams said her uncle told his family that he had never told the police that he suspected a burglary was taking place. “Why did they have to go in like that?” he keeps asking, Ms. Smith said.

Ms. Williams said Ms. Jefferson’s family had come over and told her uncle that he had done nothing wrong. She said her uncle has lived in the same house for more than 50 years, and that the family would often see Ms. Jefferson outside washing her car or taking care of her mother. Children from the two families would often play together.

The killing comes amid existing tensions between citizens and the Fort Worth Police Department, whose officers have shot seven men since June, all but one of whom died. The current police chief, Ed Kraus, took over in May after the city manager fired the previous police chief after months of friction with city administrators over his management of the department.

Roger Foggle, a barber and activist in Fort Worth, said the shooting on Saturday was a serious setback for efforts to bridge the gap between police and citizens. “Wellness checks should not result in death certificates,” he said.

Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, said the officer who had killed Ms. Jefferson had never been the subject of an investigation and was “very shaken up” by what had happened, as were other officers in Fort Worth’s 1,700-person Police Department.

Officer Ramirez described the shooting as a “tragic mistake” and said officers were mourning the loss of Ms. Jefferson, who he noted had “every right to have a firearm in that house.”

Ms. Jefferson graduated in 2014 from Xavier University of Louisiana, the country’s only black Catholic college, with a degree in biology. She was working from home, selling pharmaceutical equipment, as she studied to apply to medical school.

Mr. Merritt said Ms. Jefferson’s family wanted the officer who shot her to be fired and for another agency, perhaps the sheriff’s department, to launch a criminal investigation into the killing and make a referral to local prosecutors.

“This is a family that is grappling with extreme tragedy,” Mr. Merritt said. Ms. Jefferson’s father lives in Nigeria, he said.
He added that he had spoken with Ms. Jefferson’s nephew, who described the night up until the point when his aunt had approached the window.

“I stopped him there,” Mr. Merritt said.
Several Democratic presidential candidates harshly criticized the shooting on Sunday, saying Ms. Jefferson should still be alive.

“Being Black in your own home shouldn’t be a death sentence,” Senator Kamala Harris wrote. Senator Bernie Sanders demanded that the Department of Justice investigate the killing, and Senator Elizabeth Warren said the shooting showed the need for more stringent use-of-force standards.

The street now at the center of the latest policing controversy is a quiet road in a working-class neighborhood made up mostly of black and Latino residents.
On Sunday, flowers and a teddy bear had been placed on the walkway leading up to Ms. Jefferson’s light-blue home, which is one of the newer houses on the block.

The house sits next to a mosque, where on Sunday morning, James D. Muhammed was trimming the lawn. When he was finished, he crossed over onto Ms. Jefferson’s lawn and trimmed hers, too.
 

Fort Worth Officers Association urges transparent investigation into fatal shooting

The Fort Worth Police Officers Association urged Fort Worth police to conduct a “thorough” and “transparent” investigation into the fatal shooting of a woman inside her own home Saturday morning.

Atatiana Jefferson was shot by a Fort Worth police officer after a neighbor called a non-emergency line to request a welfare check at the home in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue. Police responded to the house, and officers went into the backyard, where one of them shot Jefferson through the window. In a statement from Fort Worth police, the department said the officer perceived a threat. The department has not answered questions clarifying what the threat was.

In a statement, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association said the following:


“The Fort Worth Police Officers Association is deeply saddened by the officer involved shooting that occurred on Allen Ave.

“Any loss of life is tragic, but the reported circumstances surrounding this incident are heartbreaking. We join with the citizens of Fort Worth in mourning the death of one of our young community members. We are urging the Fort Worth police department to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, and through that investigation we hope to gain clarity and understanding of what exactly transpired.

“Police officers take an oath to protect and serve all citizens in our great city and it is every officers’ worst fear to use deadly force in the line of duty. We are thankful for our community leaders who seek to unite during times of grief instead of divide and we hope that collaboration and peace will help guide us forward.

The members of the FWPOA love the citizens that we serve, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Atatiana Jefferson; our hearts are heavy.”
 
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