Dallas officer will be charged after walking into wrong apartment, killing 26-year-old

A Dallas police officer will be charged with manslaughter after she walked into an apartment she mistakenly believed was her own on Thursday night and shot and killed the 26-year-old man who was inside, Chief Renee Hall said.

The shooting happened just before 10 p.m. at the South Side Flats at 1210 S. Lamar Street, after the unidentified officer finished a full shift, Hall said.

Dallas police have handed the investigation over to the Texas Rangers and removed themselves as the lead investigative agency, Hall said. She said her department is not continuing with their normal officer-involved shooting protocols because the officer was off-duty.

A blood sample was drawn to test for drugs and alcohol in the officer’s system, “and at my request, we are in the process of obtaining a warrant based on the circumstances we have now,” Hall said at a 1 p.m. news conference.

Hall said it’s still unclear what happened between the officer — who has yet to be identified — and the man, who was identified as Botham Shem Jean by Harding University, where he graduated in 2016.

The officer will be named once she is charged, Hall said. The officer was in full uniform at the time. The apartment complex is about two blocks from police headquarters.

“She called 911 – officers responded in about four minutes,” Hall said. “Dallas Fire Rescue also responded and took Mr. Jean to the hospital where he later died.”

Hall said she has spoken with Jean’s family and “expressed my condolences and reassured them that we are working diligently and that we have invited an outside agency to investigate.”

Many questions — such as why the officer thought Jean’s apartment was her own or how she got inside — still went unanswered Friday afternoon. Hall said she couldn’t speculate on whether the officer was tired.

‘He was always so nice and so kind’

Jean, who is from the Caribbean island Saint Lucia, worked in Dallas at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

According to the Christian Chronicle, he was active in church and often led the singing there and in school. Harding University, located in Searcy, Arkansas, is associated with the Churches of Christ.

On his LinkedIn page, Jean said he was an “aspiring young professional” and worked as a risk assurance associate for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The company posted on Facebook, “This is a terrible tragedy. Botham Jean was a member of the PwC family in our Dallas office and we are simply heartbroken to hear of his death.”

Friends posted their memories of him on Twitter Friday morning.

“I always saw Botham around campus,” Amy Johnson said. “He always wanted to lead in chapel in whatever way he could. He was always so nice and so kind. He was definitely a light at Harding — one who I could never forget. Prayers for his family and friends.”

Jean was a member of the Good News Singers, a resident assistant, an intern for the Rock House campus ministry, and a leader in Sub T-16 men’s social club, the university said.

On April 9, 2014, Jean uploaded a video to YouTube during his campaign to be the university’s student association president.

“My whole platform has been to initiate a forum where students can talk freely and can express their views freely in a positive way,” he said in the video. “I think this whole concept of opening doors between faculty and students, I think that is gonna have a significant impact of all students on campus because they can now express what they feel and we can use that to develop plans and initiatives that are going to affect their lives.”

Jean said his ability to unify and motivate his classmates set him apart from the three people he was running against.

Asked why he wanted to be SA president, Jean said, “I want to serve. My heart and experience has led me to serve. I want every student at Harding to have the best Harding experience possible and go on to accomplish all of their dreams.”

Harding University President Bruce McLarty posted a memory of Jean on Friday morning.

“At Lectureship one year, I asked him to lead singing one night. Because of the subject, there was a particular old hymn that I asked him if he would mind leading,” McLarty said. “He didn’t say anything about not knowing the song, but he had never heard it before in his life. He came up that evening and was just smiling and excited about leading it. He told me he had never heard the song before, but that day, he called back to St. Lucia and asked his grandmother to teach him that old hymn on the phone. So he shared it with us at Lectureship that night, and it was a truly special moment.”

According to the St. Lucia Times newspaper, Jean comes from a prominent family on the island.

He is the nephew of the chief executive officer of the Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association Inc. He is the son of the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development.

On Facebook, Jean’s uncle, Earl Jean, said “how can this nasty world take you away from me ....this is the worst day of my life thus far....uncle loves you so much.”

Jean’s mother, Allie Jean, told NBC News that “he did no one any wrong.”

“Somebody has to be crazy not to realize that they walked into the wrong apartment,” Allie Jean told NBC. “He’s a bachelor. Things are different inside.

“And if you try your key and it doesn’t work, that should make you realize you’re at the wrong apartment. Every door for each apartment is also numbered,” she said.

His sister, Allisa Charles-Findley said, “Just last week I was thinking of what to get you for your birthday, now I have to go pick out your casket.”

A friend of the family, Merlina Joseph, said on Facebook that Jean was one of the nicest people, an “outstanding guy with a very bright future ahead of him.” She called the Dallas officer “trigger happy.”

Many people across the U.S. left comments and condolences on Earl Jean’s Facebook page.

“Prayers for comfort coming from Decatur, Texas, straight to you and yours,” one woman said.

Mother’s Against Police Brutality said any other suspect would be in jail right now. A vigil for Jean will be held at Dallas Police Headquarters, 1400 South Lamar, at 7 p.m.

‘This is why #Kaepernick protests’

By Friday afternoon, the hashtags #BothamShemJean and #BothamJean were trending on Twitter.

“This is why #Kaepernick protests,” one user said about the shooting, referring to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the National Anthem played before games to bring attention to police brutality against African-American citizens.

The officer who killed Jean is white, Hall said.

“When black men like #BothamShemJean get murdered by the police and there is no accountability, it explains why @Kaepernick7 #takesaknee and why it’s not apparent that #BlackLivesMatter,” said John Jackson, who identifies himself on Twitter as a veteran and employee of the City of Atlanta.

Shaun King, a co-founder of Real Justice, said on Twitter, “They tell us to ‘pull up our pants.’ ‘Get a job.’ ‘Wear a suit.’ ‘Cut your hair.’ Here’s what I know... #BothamJean did ALL of this and more. Was literally the epitome of respectability. And he was murdered by police in his own home. He never laid a finger on this cop.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2018 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Dallas officer will be charged after walking into wrong apartment, killing 26-year-old."