The fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, in her Texas home by a white Fort Worth police officer over the weekend has drawn swift condemnation and national outrage.
“I mean it’s senseless. My daughter… had her whole life in front of her,” father Marquis Jefferson told CBS News.
Atatiana Jefferson was killed around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday after officers responded to a non-emergency call asking for someone to check on the safety of the residents after a neighbor spotted the door open. Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew at the time.
Fort Worth police released body camera video showing the officer yelling, “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” before firing. The entire exchange lasted less than four seconds. The officer does not identify himself as a police officer in the video.
Attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Jefferson’s family, said Jefferson was a pre-med graduate at Xavier University who loved her family. Up until her death, she was working in pharmaceutical equipment sales, saving up for medical school.
Before law enforcement goes about their pattern of villainizing this beautiful peaceful woman, turning her into a…
Posted by Lee Merritt on Saturday, 12 October 2019
Jefferson became the sixth person since June who has been killed by one of the department’s officers. A seventh person was wounded.
