A boy who saw his aunt being shot dead in her home by a cop has been awarded millions in damages by a city in Texas.
The incident happened four years ago in Fort Worth when the boy, Zion Carr, was aged just eight years old. Officer Aaron Dean who is white, shot Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, on Oct 12, 2019, after a neighbour called a non-emergency police line to report that the front door to Jefferson's home was open. It emerged at trial that Zion and Jefferson had left the doors open to vent smoke after the boy burnt burgers, and the two were up late playing video games.
Fort Worth City Council approved the £2.8million ($3.5m) settlement for Zion, who testified at the trial last December of Dean, who was convicted of manslaughter in Jefferson's death and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. Part of the money will help cover Zion's existing needs and living expenses and a savings plan will be started to pay for his college education.
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At trial, Dean and officer Carol Darch testified that they thought the house might have been burgled and quietly moved into the fenced-off backyard looking for signs of forced entry. Dean, 39, whose gun was drawn, fired a single shot through the window a moment after shouting at Jefferson, who was inside, to show her hands. Body camera footage showed that Dean and the second officer who responded to the call didn't identify themselves as police at the house.
Dean testified that he had no choice when he saw Jefferson pointing the barrel of a gun directly at him. But under questioning from prosecutors he acknowledged numerous errors, repeatedly conceding that actions he took before and after the shooting were "more bad police work". Prosecutor Dale Smith said Dean did not give Jefferson enough time to comply with his command that she raise her hands, with the footage showing he fired his weapon immediately after issuing the order.
Darch's back was to the window when Dean shot, but she testified that he never mentioned seeing a gun before he pulled the trigger and didn't say anything about the weapon as they rushed in to search the house. Prosecutors claimed the evidence showed otherwise and Dean acknowledged on the witness stand that he said something about the gun only after seeing it on the floor inside the house and that he never gave Jefferson first aid. Zion testified that Jefferson took out her gun because she believed there was an intruder in the backyard.
The issue was the main point of the trial, with defence attorney Bob Gill arguing that Dean acted in self defence, so the case was about manslaughter, not murder. Jurors deliberated for more than 13 hours over two days before finding Dean guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder. Zion's mother, Amber Carr, died in January 2023 after battling congestive heart failure.