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The Dallas Police Service fired Monday an officer who shot dead his neighbor inside his apartment earlier this month, an episode that hit the city and provoked protests against the assassination of a black man.
Department head U. Renee Hall announced the dismissal of police officer Amber R. Guyger, citing his arrest in the murder of Botham Shem Jean, who lived above Mrs. Guyger in an apartment complex in Dallas. Mrs. Guyger, who was on leave, entered Mr. Jean's apartment on the evening of September 6 and fired his service weapon twice, hitting him once on the chest.
Ms. Guyger, 30, was placed on administrative leave immediately after the murder and charged with manslaughter a few days later. Chief Hall faces increasing pressure to fire Ms. Guyger, but she said Last week, at a meeting at City Hall, federal and state laws prevented him from doing so without mentioning details. She also argued that taking action could be detrimental to the investigation into the death of Mr. Jean, 26 years old.
S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer from the Jean family, said Chief Hall had called Sunday night to tell them that despite these concerns, she planned to fire Ms. Guyger.
During the call, "she had to answer tough questions about why it took so long," Merritt told reporters on Monday, adding that the family had seen Ms. Guyger as a "victory." ".
Chief Hall said Monday afternoon that she had waited for the "critical part" of the investigation to be completed, but she did not elaborate. "As Chief of Police, my job is to ensure the integrity, the highest level of integrity in this criminal investigation, and that's what I did," Chief Hall said.
Merritt said Jean would be buried Monday in his home country of Saint Lucia.
Tensions remained brisk for almost three weeks following the murder of Mr. Jean, a graduate of Harding University in Arkansas. Demonstrators calling for justice rallied in the streets and disrupted a meeting of the city council, while Dallas police officers said that they believed in Mrs. Guyger's version of events.
Ms. Guyger told the investigators that she had confused Mr. Jean's apartment with herself, that her door was slightly ajar and that she was opening when she tried to unlock it. But lawyers for Mr. Jean's family said the door was closed and the neighbors had heard someone knock on the door, asking to be admitted before the gun was fired.
During a visit to New York last week, Jean's mother, Allison Jean, said that her son had explained to her how the relationship between black men and the police in America was different from the way she was back in the Caribbean.
"I always told him," Why do you have to be so dressed? Said Ms. Jean, a former senior official of the Government of Saint Lucia. "He said," Mom, I do not want to be arrested. I do not want them to think that I am someone that I am not. "
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