DALLAS _ Relatives of the Dallas police officer who killed a man in his apartment said Tuesday that they aren't racists despite social media chatter about photos of them.
Specifically, internet sleuths have pointed to three photos of Officer Amber Guyger and her family as possible indications that they have white supremacist inclinations. Guyger, who is white, is now at the center of the national outrage over white officers shooting unarmed black men.
Guyger shot Botham Jean, who was black, in his apartment last week after she mistook his apartment for her own exactly one floor below, authorities say.
After the shooting, social media users noted photos of Guyger's brother-law, Noe Garza, making hand gestures that some believed might symbolize white power.
But in a telephone interview Tuesday, Garza denied he or any member of Guyger's family has connections to white supremacists or supports their causes. He said the gestures were meant to be silly and fun.
"My last name is Garza. I'm a Mexican," he said. "I don't care about your nationality. I don't care about the color of your skin. We all bleed red."
Family members declined to discuss the shooting or Guyger, who has been charged with manslaughter. But they said they wanted to address accusations Guyger and her family are racists.
The Dallas Morning News reached out to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League _ both of which are known for identifying hate groups _ to examine the photos. The SPLC didn't have an expert available, and the ADL was closed for Rosh Hashanah.
The ADL maintains an online library of 17 hate symbols. Garza's gestures appear to have a partial resemblance to the so-called "peckerwood" and "white power" hand signs associated with white supremacists, but don't exactly match any in the ADL's database.
"None of these are racist photos," said Garza, 43, a former chef. "I am not racist."
The first photo shows Garza in a gray T-shirt and black shorts gesturing with both hands. Garza said he's not flashing gang signs. The family was celebrating his father-in-law's birthday, he said.
"It's was his 69th birthday, so it was a 69," said Garza. "That's all it was."
The hand gesture could resemble a six and a nine from Garza's perspective, but appear backward to a viewer of the photo.
Garza's wife, Alana Guyger, who is Amber Guyger's sister, said the photo was taken in July 2016 at a Joe's Crab Shack in Grapevine.
The second picture depicts Garza among five men. Some are making hand gestures and holding beers. In that photo, Garza said, he is making an "L" and "W" with his hands.
He said the photo was taken when he and friends went to see the punk band Lagwagon perform years ago at what is now Dos Equis Pavilion in Fair Park. He is also wearing a black hat with the letter "W" and "L" overlapping.
"It's one of my favorite bands," Garza said.
The third photo making the rounds shows Guyger's mother in a white T-shirt that says "All Lives Matter."
Alana Guyger said the shirt was a gift to her mother from her father after the July 7, 2016, downtown ambush in which a gunman killed five Dallas officers.
The slogan "All Lives Matter" is a riff on the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter campaigns against racism _ and what its members see as the disregard for black lives _ especially in shootings by police. "All Lives Matter" is often a retort from supporters of police and opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Garza said he hates "the fact that I have to prove I'm not racist."
