A black woman was shot and killed by a white police officer in her Fort Worth, Texas, home after a neighbor called dispatchers to report the woman’s front door was open, police said.
The officers were searching the perimeter of the woman’s home when they saw a person standing near a window inside and one of them opened fire, killing her, Fort Worth police said.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner identified the woman killed as 28-year-old Atatiana Koquice Jefferson. She died at 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the bedroom of her home.
Hours after the shooting, police released a heavily edited version of the officer’s body camera footage. The nearly 2-minute video shows officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes before one of them yells, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” and shoots his weapon through a window.
“The Fort Worth Police Department is releasing available body camera footage to provide transparent and relevant information to the public as we are allowed within the confines of the Public Information Act and forthcoming investigation,” police said.
In a statement, police said the officers entered the home and gave the woman medical treatment, but she died at the scene.
The department also said that it “shares the deep concerns of the public and is committed to completing an extremely thorough investigation of this critical police incident to its resolution.”
Police have not named the officer, who joined the department in April of last year. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The Fort Worth Police Officers Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
James Smith, Jefferson’s neighbor, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegramhe called a non-emergency police number when he saw her doors open and lights on in the early morning hours. He said he knew Jefferson was home with her nephew.
He said he was trying to be a good neighbor and called authorities so they could check on Jefferson.
“I’m shaken. I’m mad. I’m upset. And I feel it’s partly my fault,” he told the news outlet. “If I had never dialed the police department, she’d still be alive.”
This was the ninth police-involved shooting in 2019 by Fort Worth Texas Police. Seven of those were fatal, according to Lt. Brandon O’Neil with FWPD.
The Fort Worth Police Officers Association issued a statement Sunday that said, in part: “Any loss of life is tragic, but the reported circumstances surrounding this incident are heartbreaking. … We are urging the Forth Worth Police Department to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, and through that investigation we hope to gain clarity and understanding of what exactly transpired.”
‘Put your hands up! Show me your hands!’
Officers responded to the woman’s home after dispatchers received a call around 2:25 a.m. from a person saying his or her neighbor’s front door was open, police said.
In the body camera video, when the officers first arrive at the house, the door is open and the lights are on, but no one can be seen.
The officers then walk around the home and into the dark holding a flashlight. At some point, one of them quickly approaches a window with his weapon drawn.
Within seconds, the officer yells, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” and fires through the window. The officer does not appear to identify himself as police before firing his weapon.
The officer drew his weapon and fired one shot after “perceiving a threat,” police said. The officers found a firearm when they entered the room, the department’s statement said.
The video released by police shows two mostly blurred clips that appeared to be from inside the home, showing a firearm.
CNN requested the unedited body camera footage, an incident report and dispatch audio from the dispatch call that prompted the response. But a police spokesperson said nothing additional will be released at this time.
