An attorney says witness accounts stand at odds with the story given by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who entered the wrong apartment last week and fatally shot a man she claims to have thought was a burglar.
According to court documents unveiled Monday detailing Guyger’s account, she was off-duty when she arrived at her apartment complex around 10 p.m. on Thursday and parked her car on the fourth level of the garage, despite the fact she lived on the third floor.
Guyger attempted to use a door key to open the apartment, but found it was unlocked. Documents then claim she directed verbal commands at a “large silhouette” in the room before shooting neighbor Botham Jean in the torso.
She then turned on the lights and called 911, when she realized that she was in apartment 1478, not her own apartment numbered 1378.
But Dallas civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt says that there are witnesses who offer a counter perspective on the events that transpired.
“There are witnesses who said that before the gunshots, they heard the officer knocking at the door and repeatedly saying, ‘Let me in,’ ” Merritt said, according to The Washington Post.
Merritt is representing Jean’s family, who is still seeking answers on what exactly happened.
“The number one answer that I want is, ‘What happened?’” Allison Jean, Botham’s mother, told reporters on Monday. “I have asked too many questions, and I’ve been told that there are no answers yet. I’m looking forward to the powers that be to come up with the answers to make me more satisfied that they are doing what is in the best interest of getting justice for Botham.”
Guyger has been charged with manslaughter, but a grand jury will determine final charges against her. She was arrested Sunday, but has been released on a $300,000 bail.
Protesters assembled on Monday night as they trekked from the police department headquarters in Dallas to Botham Jean’s apartment building, some of whom have urged for a murder charge against Guyger.
“I’m mad, I’m sad, I’m frustrated because this is how you take hope from a people. This is how you show a people that they’re powerless, when we come out here and we’re asking for justice time and time again,” La’Shadion Shemwell said, according to NBC affiliate KXAS-TV.
Faith Johnson, Dallas County District attorney, promised at a news conference Monday that her office will be thorough so that “justice is done in this case.”
“We’re going to unravel whatever we need to unravel. We’re going to unturn whatever we need to unturn,” Johnson said.
