The Fort Worth, Texas officer who shot and killed black woman Atatiana Jefferson early Saturday morning will be facing charges and has been admitted into jail without the possibility for bond, as of Monday, October 14th. This took place hours after his resignation, soon before his Chief had the opportunity to fire him. 

The immediate backlash following the shooting was especially intense in this case, both in the community, as well as nationally. The officer, a white man named Aaron Y. Dean, was one member of the small group of officers responding to a call reporting that Jefferson’s door had been open. This call was delivered through a non-emergency hotline and was intended to simply be an “open structure call” on the household. After seeing the open door of the residence the police eventually made there way towards the back of the building. This is where Officer Aaron Dean saw Jefferson in the window and responded by, “Perceiving a threat… drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person inside the residence,” the Fort Worth Police Department said in a statement released to the public.

 This statement coincided with the release of officer Dean’s body camera footage of that night. This footage is very damning and has led to intense outrage across the country, with many calling for a civil rights investigation to be conducted by the F.B.I., including Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus. In the video, we can see the officers slowly creeping around towards the back of the residence before Dean shines his light into the window and yells, “hands up,” immediately followed by the fatal gunshot wound. At no point in time was Jefferson made aware that the several men in all black and blue with guns and flashlights sneaking around her house at 2:23 am were police officers, and at no point was Jefferson given an opportunity to raise her hands to signal her innocence. 

“A murder charge and an arrest is a good start – it’s more than we are used to seeing,” the civil rights lawyer representing the Jefferson family had to say on the progress so far.

As heinous and depressing as these actions are, it may seem like the perpetrators of police brutality are finally beginning to be held accountable, using the prosecution of officer Amber Guyger and now here with Aaron Dean as markers of recent progress, for example.