Man Killed at Home After Office Mistakes Apartment as her Own

Police intend to seek a manslaughter charge against a Dallas officer who shot and killed a 26-year-old man Thursday night when she entered his apartment near downtown, apparently mistaking it for her own.

"This is a very unique situation," Police Chief U. Renee Hall said at an afternoon news conference. "We have ceased handling it under our normal protocol as an officer-involved shooting."

Hall said that police are obtaining a warrant charging the officer, whom the chief declined to name until she is formally charged.

The chief said the officer's blood was drawn to test for alcohol and drugs, and the Texas Rangers have been called in to conduct an independent investigation.

The unnamed officer wasn't hurt in the 10 p.m. shooting at the South Side Flats at 1210 S. Lamar St., just blocks from Dallas police headquarters in the Cedars.

Police officials say she arrived at the complex after working a full shift and was still in full uniform when she entered the victim's apartment, thinking it was her home.

The victim was identified as Botham Shem Jean, a native of the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia. A graduate of Harding University in Arkansas, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.

"I have spoken to the Jean family," Hall said. "We have reassured them that we are working diligently."

But, Hall added, "Right now there are more questions than we have answers."

Authorities have yet to fully explain how the situation escalated to the shooting, declining to comment on whether the officer mistook Jean for an intruder.

"I won't go into that information right now," said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a Dallas police spokesman. "We have not interviewed her. ... We still have a lot to do in this investigation."

Mitchell said that after the officer reported Jean was wounded, other police officers who responded administered first aid to him. He was taken to Baylor University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The officer was placed on leave while the shooting is investigated with the Dallas County district attorney's office.

Via: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/09/06/shooting-reported-cedars-near-dallas-police-headquarters