“Put your hands up, show me your hands,” the officer said before firing a shot — all in less than four seconds.
Body camera footage released by the Fort Worth Police Department shows the moment when one of its officers fired a shot into a home where they were performing a wellness check.
A black woman was shot by police at her home early Saturday morning in Fort Worth, Texas, after her neighbor called a 911 to ask to check her well-being.
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, 28, was killed in a bedroom at around 2:30 am, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
In a statement, Fort Worth police said central department officials responded to a call at 2:25 am and searched the perimeter of the house in block 1200 of East Allen Avenue.
An officer, after seeing someone through the window of the house, took out his gun, fired a shot and killed the INTRUDER.
The intruder was in fact the black woman who lives in the residence, succumbed to her injuries and was declared dead on the spot,” read the statement from Fort Worth PD. “The officer, a white man who has been working in the department since April 2018, has been awaiting the results of the investigation of police incidents involving incidents of police administrative clearance.”
In his statement, Officer said that after the shooting, that they entered the house to find the resident and a firearm and began providing emergency assistance. Texas is an open portage state.
Fort Worth PD released body camera footage , and it shows that the officer sees an open door in the house – who had turned on his lights – then walks around the house with his partner. He then opens a door and heads to a darker part of the garden while holding a flashlight.
The body cam footage also includes photos of a gun found inside the house.
After walking though the gate, the officer perks through a window, and then he sees a person. With his flashlight in one hand, gun in another. “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” he shouts before firing a shot all in less than four seconds.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Reporter Jack Howland spoke with James Smith who still is shaken by the incident.
- Here’s Smith describing why he decided to call a non-emergency police number around 2 a.m. Saturday:
“If I had never dialed the police department, she’d still be alive,” Smith said.
“It makes you not want to call the police department,” he added. “If you don’t feel safe with the police department, then who do you feel safe with?”
Pastor Michael Bell getting emotional during his speech on Atatiana Jefferson.
