December 20, 2019

Aaron Dean, Former Fort Worth Cop, Indicted in Murder of Atatiana Jefferson

The rare move by prosecutors comes after her shooting was captured by a bodycam.

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Former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean was indicted by a grand jury for the murder of a 28-year-old Black woman named Atatiana Jefferson, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office announced Friday, according to NBC News.

Jefferson was in her home babysitting her nephew when Dean, responding to a neighbor’s concern that Jefferson’s door was left ajar, shot and killed her. The Fort Worth Police Department released bodycam footage of the encounter. The video is only seconds long and shows Dean looking into a window with a flashlight, spotting Jefferson, saying “put your hands up!” and firing a single shot. Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew, who witnessed the shooting, later said that she had taken out her own gun when she heard noises outside the home, suspecting someone was attempting to intrude.

The shooting came within one week of a horrifyingly similar story reaching its conclusion in nearby Dallas. Amber Guyger, a former police officer in the city, had been found guilty in October for killing a 26-year-old Black man named Botham Jean after mistaking his home for her own. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Dean resigned from the police force days after the shooting, and was arrested a short time later.

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