News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Dallas Police Identify Amber Guyger As Officer Who Shot Botham Jean In His Home

Update, 9:01 p.m. Saturday

Dallas police have identified Amber Guyger as the white off-duty officer involved in the fatal shooting of a black man. She's been with the city's police department for four years assigned to the Southeast Patrol Division. 

No other details were released with identification of the officer.  

The Dallas police chief said earlier Saturday a warrant for manslaughter hasn't been issued for Guyger because the Texas Rangers told her to wait. 

U. Renee Hall said during a panel discussion that the Texas Rangers, the top criminal investigative agency in the state, needed more time to investigate Thursday night's fatal shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean.

Both Hall and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings have called the shooting at South Side Flats a unique situation.

"The ball is in their court," Hall said, referring to the Texas Rangers. She acknowledged that many questions remain about the shooting and asked the public to give investigators enough time to get to the answers.

According to police, Guyger returned home in her uniform after her shift. She called dispatch to report that she had shot Jean, and she later told the officers who responded that she believed his apartment was her own when she entered it.

The responding officers administered first aid to Jean, a native of St. Lucia who attended college in Arkansas and worked for accounting and consulting firm PwC. Jean was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Hall said Friday that the officer would be charged with manslaughter, but it's unclear if that's still the case.

Hall said Friday the officer's blood was drawn to be tested for drugs and alcohol. She declined to speculate as to whether fatigue or other factors may have factored into the shooting. 

In a Friday interview broadcast by KXAS-TV, Botham Jean's mother, Allison Jean, wondered if race was a factor in the shooting. 

"I didn't know she was white until now," Jean said. "If it was a white man would it have been different? Would she have reacted differently?"

St. Lucia's government issued a statement Friday expressing "shock" at the killing and extending condolences to the Jean family. It said officials at its embassy in the U.S. would provide assistance to the family.

Botham Jean attended Harding University in Arkansas and, after graduating in 2016, he had been living and working in Dallas at accounting and consulting firm PwC. The private school said Friday that he often led campus worship services while he was a student.

Dallas mayor: Shooting a 'very serious situation'

 

Rawlings on Saturday said the shooting death "is a very serious situation for the city of Dallas."

 

“Believe me, for anyone that questions whether we’re going to get to the truth of this, there should be no doubters," the mayor said. "We will find out exactly what happened. ... We do know we have a system in place, a process in place, that I think is going to get us through that.”

Rawlings says Jean was a young professional who displayed leadership and was a man of faith, and that he was "exactly the sort of citizen we want to have."

 

He says he spoke Saturday with Gov. Greg Abbott, who promised that the Rangers will ensure "justice will be served."

Watch Saturday's panel discussion with Chief Hall, courtesy of WFAA-TV

Watch Saturday's press conference with Mayor Mike Rawlings, Sen. Royce West and Mayor Pro Tem Casey Thomas, courtesy of WFAA-TV

The Associated Press contributed to this report.