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The coffin wearing Botham Shem Jean arrives at Greenville Church Church Church of Christ on Thursday in Richardson, Texas.
Stewart F. House / Getty Images
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Stewart F. House / Getty Images
The coffin wearing Botham Shem Jean arrives at Greenville Church Church Church of Christ on Thursday in Richardson, Texas.
Stewart F. House / Getty Images
Botham Jean is remembered on Thursday for his dedication to service, his deep faith and his smile and open heart. He will be buried in St. Lucia, but service in Texas was a chance for American friends to say goodbye.
"A friend is the family you choose, and let me tell you that Botham chose everyone," said his friend Alexis Stossel. "If Botham were in this room, no one would ever feel left out."
According to Minister Michael Griffin, who called it "Bo", it was a service filled with music, an appropriate tribute to a man who expressed his love of God by singing.
"Knowing Botham, it was loving Botham," Griffin said. "He was the light in a dark room."
Jean was just weeks away from his 27th birthday when he was killed at home by a white Dallas policeman.
That someone like John, so graceful and kind, dies in this way, is incomprehensible to the hundreds of people who gathered Thursday at the Church of Christville Avenue of Christ, just outside of Dallas.
He studied accounting at Harding University in Arkansas and moved to Dallas to launch his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
CEO Tim Ryan says the company has created a scholarship fund on behalf of Botham Jean.
Tommy Bush, a friend and mentor of Jean's business, said that he had been asked to advise Jean when he arrived at Harding University. He said that John set the highest expectations for himself and worked diligently for them, but always put God and his family first. Bush said he had learned as much from John as he had learned from their friendship.
"What was totally unexpected was the tremendous blessing and growth I experienced when I had to advise him," Bush said.
Botham Shem Jean got his name from a British cricket player, said his uncle, and his second from the Bible, after a son of Noah. Ignatius John said that his nephew loved food and that he loved cricket and was a voracious learner.
Ignatius Jean stated that Botham planned to one day come to his office in St. Lucia, where he was organizing service projects. Ignatius Jean stated that his nephew's death had been felt throughout the Caribbean nation.
"The sound of the gunshots did not have the same impact on our small island, but its impact was nuclear," said Jean. "A nuclear weapon was launched on our family by a person in charge of protecting and serving."
Many in Dallas were frustrated by the pace of the investigation. Critics accuse the officer who fired at him for receiving special treatment. There are divergent accounts of what exactly happened in the moments leading up to his death on September 6th.
Jean's family and friends are questioning about the story of Amber Guyger who confuses Jean's apartment with his own. Jean lived on the fourth floor, she on the third floor. She told the police that she had used her dongle to open the door, but it opened. The room was dark, she saw a silhouette, thought that he was an intruder and fired two shots while there was no response to his "verbal orders", according to an affidavit of arrest warrant.
Jean was shot just before 10 pm Guyger called 911. Jean died later in the hospital.
"Botham Shem Jean was not a silhouette," said Dane Felicien, a family friend, at the funeral.
Family lawyers say the statements made by witnesses contradict the officer's story.
They and others said yesterday that they are waiting for justice.
"We will not sit still because what we believe to be false stories that reduce the guilt of the offending officer is advanced," said Minister Sammie Berry of Dallas West Church of Christ, of which Jean was a member. He was flanked by the John family and about two dozen African American religious leaders from Dallas.
"The undeniable reality is that he was killed at his home, where he had the right to be and respected the law," Berry said.
Guyger was arrested on a warrant for manslaughter three days after the shooting. She posted a bond and stays on administrative leave. The Texas Rangers, a state law enforcement agency that resumed last week's investigation at the Dallas Police Department, is still investigating. But the same goes for the Dallas County Attorney's Office. District Attorney Faith Johnson raised the possibility of more serious charges.
The district attorney's office says that there is no time limit for bringing the case to the grand jury.
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