A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder for fatally shooting a woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home in a case that has caused outrage across the nation.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office indicted former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, 35, in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old pre-med graduate student, according to court records. Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew at her mother’s home the night she was killed.
Dean was responding to a call from a neighbor concerned that Jefferson’s door was open on Oct. 12. Dean was apparently searching outside Jefferson’s home, saw her through a window and shot once, killing her.
The former @CityofFortWorth cop that shot #AtatianaJefferson to death in her home was indicted for murder by a Tarrant County Grand Jury today! Atatiana’s family is relived but remain cautious that a conviction and appropriate sentence is still a long way away. Keep pushing. pic.twitter.com/VAyN8FQwj3
— Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) December 20, 2019
Dean resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department on Oct. 14.
“Atatiana’s family is relived [sic] but remain cautious that a conviction and appropriate sentence is still a long way away,” Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jefferson’s family, said in a tweet. “Keep pushing.”
