The Texas cop who shot and killed a woman in her own home while conducting a welfare check has been arrested and charged with murder.
Aaron Dean, who resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department to avoid termination, was listed as an inmate in the Tarrant County Jail Monday evening, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The 34-year-old man was charged with killing Atatiana Jefferson, 28, who was playing video games with her nephew moments before she was killed.
Dean was one of two cops responding to a neighbor’s call that the door was left open at Jefferson’s house.
He was outside the home when he spotted Jefferson through the window and ordered her to show him her hands but fired his gun before even giving her a chance to do so. He also never identified himself as an officer.
Lee Merritt, attorney for the Jefferson family, said Atatiana Jefferson and her nephew were startled when they heard a noise outside. When she stood up to investigate, she was shot dead.
Fort Worth police initially claimed Dean perceived a threat and they also tried to smear Jefferson by including a photo of a gun they found in her home in the bodycam footage they released even though it is obvious now she was not even holding the gun.
And even if she was, there still would be no justification to shoot her.
Dean joined the force in April 2018 after graduating from the police academy.
Fort Worth police will be holding a press conference in a few minutes.Watch it below.
