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Amber Guyger Charged with Manslaughter; Officials Dispute Story Over Potential Murder Charge

Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer who reportedly shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean in his own apartment on Thursday night, turned herself in to Dallas Police on Sunday evening. Suggested Reading Story Behind The Shocking Moment That Ruined Rapper Lil Mama’s Career Three Friends Were Headed To A Beyoncรฉ Concert, But One Dies On…

Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer who reportedly shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean in his own apartment on Thursday night, turned herself in to Dallas Police on Sunday evening.

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According to the Washington Post, Guyger turned herself in at Kaufman County Jail, where she was arrested and taken into custody on a manslaughter charge for killing Jean, her neighbor. Police say Guyger mistook his apartment for hers, though itโ€™s unclear how she would have made the mistake and how the shooting would have occurred.

A recently released video shows Guyger moments after the shooting occurred. She can be seen pacing back and forth down the hallway of the apartment building on her phone.

Later, a gurney can be seen wheeling Jeanโ€™s body out of the apartment, as officers follow behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdIZFWyhx0w

Although Guyger was in uniform at the time she killed Jean, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said Jeanโ€™s death isnโ€™t considered an officer-involved shooting because Guyger was off-duty at the time (she was returning home from her shift).

According to police, Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, fired her service weapon at Jean, thinking he was an intruder. Afterward, she called 911. Jean died at the hospital, reports the Post.

Many have voiced outrage over Jeanโ€™s deathโ€”and disbelief over both the official story coming from police and the subsequent manslaughter charge thatโ€™s been handed to Guyger.

As the Dallas News reports, one Dallas official claims the three-day delay between Jeanโ€™s death and Guygerโ€™s arrest happened because a judge refused to sign an arrest warrant unless it was for murder.

On Sunday, city councilor Philip Kingston wrote on Facebook that alleged that unnamed judge refused to sign an arrest warrant for manslaughter.

โ€œOn Friday at around 7:00 a.m. DPD determined that this was not an officer involved shooting (โ€˜OISโ€™) and decided to seek an arrest warrant, but there was an internal disagreement over whether to charge the crime as murder or manslaughter,โ€ Kingston wrote.

โ€œSomeone apparently wanted the officer charged only with manslaughter; so DPD called a judge who told them he would not sign a warrant for manslaughter because that wasnโ€™t the crime they were describing. But he would sign a warrant for murder,โ€ he added.

Kingston also alleged that, because the judge wouldnโ€™t sign the warrant, Dallas police were forced to ask the Texas Rangers to investigate the case.

In a comment to his post, Kingston didnโ€™t name his sources, but said that it didnโ€™t come from Dallas police.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling and Police Chief Hall both vociferously denied the allegations. Rawling called Kingstonโ€™s comments โ€œcategorically wrong and dangerous,โ€ according to the Dallas News.

โ€œIโ€™m embarrassed that it came from a City Council person,โ€ Rawlings said.โ€œAnd I want to set the record straight.โ€

Chief Hall said Kingstonโ€™s version of events was โ€œtotally inaccurate.โ€ In addition, one of Dallas Countyโ€™s top prosectors told the News that no arrest warrant was ever given to a judge โ€œto the best of my knowledge.โ€

Rumors had also swirled that Jean and Guyger knew each other, and may have been romantically involved. Jean family attorney Lee Merritt told the Post Jean did not know officer Guyger, and that he had lived directly below her apartment.

On Sunday night, Merritt told reporters that he recently presented a witness and video evidence to the Dallas district attorneyโ€™s office that could โ€œchange the course of the investigationโ€ and secure an arrest.

Guyger, who is still on administrative leave from the department, is currently free on $300,000 bail.

Straight From The Root

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