Cop Killed A Black Woman Inside Her Home After Her Neighbor Called Police Because Her Door Was Open

A Fort Worth Cop Killed A Black Woman Inside Her Home After Her Neighbor Called Police Because Her Door Was Open
“Put your hands up, show me your hands,” the officer said before firing a shot — all in less than four seconds.

A black woman was shot and killed by police inside her own home early Saturday morning in Fort Worth, Texas, after her neighbor called a non-emergency police number for a wellness check on her.

Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, 28, was killed in a bedroom at the home at around 2:30 a.m., according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.

In a statement, the Fort Worth Police Department said that officers from its central division responded to a call at 2:25 a.m. and searched the perimeter of the house on the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue.

One officer, after seeing someone through the window of the home, drew his weapon and fired one shot, killing the woman.

“The individual, a black female, who resides at the residence succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased on the scene,” read the Fort Worth PD’s statement. “The officer, a white male who has been with the department since April of 2018, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome [of] the critical police incident investigation.”

An officer handling public relations for the department did not immediately return a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/fort-worth-police-killed-black-woman-inside-her-home

A Texas police officer responding to a call of an open front door early on Saturday shot into a woman’s home from outside her window, killing her in her bedroom, officials said.

Officers responded to a residence in Fort Worth, Tex., regarding an “open structure” call around 2:30 a.m. and found the front door open, the police said in a statement.

When the officers searched the perimeter of the house, one officer outside noticed a person standing inside, near a window. “Perceiving a threat,” he drew his weapon and fired once into the house at the person, the police said.

Officers entered the house, located the injured resident and a firearm, and began providing emergency medical care, the police said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

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James Smith, Ms. Jefferson’s neighbor, told WFAA-TV in Dallas that he had called the police for a welfare check.

He told the police that two vehicles were in her driveway but that the door to the house was wide open, which was abnormal, according to call details released by the police.

There was “no domestic violence, no arguing, nothing that they should have been concerned with as far as them coming with guns drawn to my neighbor’s house,” Mr. Smith said.

Body camera footage released by the police showed the officer, shining a flashlight, peering into a window and shouting, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” before firing his weapon.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/us/fort-worth-police-woman-killed-home.html