A former Fort Worth police officer who resigned and apologized yesterday for fatally shooting a woman in her home has been released on bond after being charged with murder. The department told the community that “no stone is left unturned” in their search for answers, AP reported.
Aaron Dean, 34, was out of custody after posting a bond of $200,000 on Monday night. He resigned the same day, less than four hours before he was released.
Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said that Dean was given a complaint on Sunday, had his badge and gun taken away, and was put on detached duty.
Dean would have been fired for policy violations if he didn’t resign.
“My intent was to meet with him today to terminate his employment with the Fort Worth Police Department. However, the officer tendered his resignation this morning before we met,” Kraus said, according to CNN.
Response From Her Father
The father of Atatiana Jefferson, the 28-year-old woman who was fatally shot by police in her own home in Fort Worth on Saturday, says he cannot understand why this tragedy happened.
“I mean it’s senseless. My daughter… had her whole life in front of her,” father Marquis Jefferson told CBS News.
Atatiana was shot by a police officer who went to do a welfare check after a neighbor spotted the woman’s front door was open late at night.
Fort Worth Police Department arrived at the woman’s home at 2:25 a.m. and one officer opened fire after seeing a figure at the window, which he perceived as a threat, Fort Worth police said in a statement.
Officer Involved Shooting – Oct. 12, 2019 pic.twitter.com/tCvn4nySjg
— Fort Worth Police (@fortworthpd) October 12, 2019
In the released bodycam video, the officer can be seen holding a flashlight and searching outside of the home. He sees something inside the house through a window, shouts “Put your hands up, show me your hands!” and immediately opens fire.
“What the officer observed and why he did not announce police will be addressed as the investigation continues,” Fort Worth Police Lt. Brandon O’Neil said.
“Responding officers searched the perimeter of the house and observed a person standing inside the residence near a window,” police said. “Perceiving a threat the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person inside the residence.”
“I don’t want no hug. That’s my one and only daughter. I’ll never forget that,” Jefferson said, reported CBS News.
Police said that there was a gun in Jefferson’s home but it isn’t specified if it was related to the shooting.
Attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Jefferson’s family, called her “a kind, brilliant soul.”
“Shot and killed in her own home by the Fort Worth Police Department,” Merritt wrote on Facebook. In a separate post, Merritt said “she was very close to her family. She was the auntie that stayed up on Friday night playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew.”
Jefferson’s neighbor, James Smith, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he called the police after noticing that the doors of her home were open and the lights were on.
“When I saw the doors open, I thought about [the child,] I thought about his grandma, I thought about his aunt,” Smith told the publication. “And I wanted to make sure they were safe. That’s all I wanted to do.”
Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
