FORT WORTH, Texas _ Fort Worth police announced at a news conference Monday that the officer who shot and killed a woman in her home Saturday has resigned.
Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus identified the officer as Aaron Dean, a man who has served about 18 months with the Fort Worth Police Department. Kraus said he was going to fire the officer had he not resigned Monday morning.
Kraus said a criminal investigation was ongoing and he expected to release a "substantial update" by Tuesday on whether charges would be filed. The FBI also has been briefed to investigate possible civil rights violations, he said.
Kraus said his intention was to fire the officer for violating policies, including the use-of-force policy.
Kraus said Dean has not cooperated with the investigation and has not answered questions from investigators. Dean could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Dean, who is white, is being investigated in the death of Atatiana Jefferson, a black woman who he shot at her home in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday after her neighbor called police to request a welfare check at the house.
Dean resigned in a one-sentence letter, according to The Associated Press. The letter said: "Effective immediately I am tendering my resignation from the Fort Worth Police Department." The letter was released by the state's largest police union, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.
The group's executive director, Charley Wilkison, says Dean had not yet hired an attorney but that one would be provided with financial support from the union.
Dean posted on his Facebook page that he started working at the Fort Worth Police Department on April 13, 2018. On May 10, 2018, he posted a photo in his police uniform.
"Rookie life ... waiting on the ME," the post said.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said Jefferson's death at the hands of a Fort Worth police officer is not justified.
"Atatiana was an amazing, smart woman who was unjustly taken from her family," she said. "I cannot imagine anything worse and I am so sorry ... there is nothing that can justify what happened."
Price further commented on the photos police released of a gun found in Jefferson's home. She said the gun was irrelevant and that Jefferson had a right to have a gun in her home.
Kraus said police have previously released images of weapons to illustrate a perceived threat. But, he said, releasing the photos in this instance was "a bad thing to do."
Kraus said the Police Department has reached out to the Texas Rangers to discuss the possibility of the state law enforcement agency investigating the shooting, but nothing has been finalized. Kraus also said that he had forwarded information to officials with the FBI who have not yet responded with an answer about investigating the case.
It is late in the process for them to come in and conduct an investigation, Kraus said.
The officer who shot Jefferson was served a personnel complaint Sunday, then placed on detached duty and stripped of his badge and firearm, Kraus said.
"I intended to meet with him this morning to terminate his employment with the Fort Worth Police Department; however, the officer tendered his resignation before I could meet with him," Kraus said Monday.
While Dean no longer works for the city, the administrative investigation will continue as if he were still employed.
"Had the officer not resigned, I would have fired him for violations of several policies, including the use of deadly force, failure to de-escalate and unprofessional conduct," Kraus said.
A statement outlining the reasons for Dean's firing will be included with the investigation to serve as written record of that determination, Kraus said.
"Additionally, the separation paperwork will be sent to the state's licensing authority, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and will reflect that he was dishonorably discharged from employment," Kraus said.
Dean was hired by the department on Aug. 21, 2017, and commissioned as a licensed peace officer on April 13, 2018.
City Manager David Cooke said a third-party group will come in to review current Fort Worth police policies and training practices.
Cooke said city officials are reaching out to experts in the field and once they finalize the plan, they will present that to the city council in the next few weeks.
Cooke also revealed a panel of three nationwide experts would be convened to take a hard look at Police Department training, de-escalation and use-of-force policies. This will be separate and apart from a police monitor who was also being sought.
The panel of three experts is expected to review police procedure and policy and make recommendations to the City Council as to what powers the monitor and the people the monitor will supervise should possess.
Asked what he would tell residents who don't trust police, Kraus said, "I tell them I get it. No one looked at that video and thought there's no doubt this officer acted inappropriately."
More training for officers is needed and will be done, he said.
"Most officers I have encountered over the last couple of days have said, 'Chief, this is not how we operate,'" he said.
According to dispatch audio released by the department Monday, officers were told, "complainant advised the front door to this address is open, both neighbor's vehicles are in the driveway, white sedan and dark colored sedan."
About seven minutes later a female officer gets on the radio and says "shots fired." A male officer, presumably Dean, then got on the radio and said "shots fired, shots fired, start a supervisor." The female officer then clarifies that officer No. 325 (Dean) fired his weapon.
At 2:25 a.m. Saturday, two officers were sent to the house where Jefferson was shot, police said. At 2:29 a.m., they parked nearby, but not in front of the house. They investigated on foot and went into the backyard.
The other officer who was with Dean is being treated as a witness to the shooting, Kraus says.
Jefferson was playing Halo with her 8-year-old nephew in their home, according to an attorney hired to represent her family, when she heard a noise outside and looked out of her window.
"The officer observed a person through a rear window in the house and fired a shot at that person," police said in a written statement Sunday. "The officer did not announce that he was a police officer prior to shooting. What the officer observed and why he did not announce 'Police' will be addressed as the investigation continues."
In a statement Saturday, Fort Worth police said the officer, "perceiving a threat," drew his gun and "fired one shot striking the person inside the residence."
Body camera footage of the shooting shows two officers using flashlights to check the perimeter of the house, inspecting two doors that are open with closed screen doors. At the back of house, Dean appears to see a figure through a dark window, and he quickly twists his body to the left.
"Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" he shouts through the window, his gun drawn. He then fires a single shot through the window, killing Jefferson.
Bob Ray Sanders, co-chair for the city's race and justice task force, said after the news conference that this shooting represents "a change moment" for Fort Worth.
Sanders, who is also a former Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist, said he has been tracking the actions of the Police Department in Fort Worth for 40 years, and he's never heard city officials say the things that he heard them say Monday.
"Believe me, I've never seen the Police Officers Association condemn a police officer," Sanders said. "In this 40 years that I've been paying attention to the police association, they don't say anything bad about another officer.
"And because the police association supports city council members, very few city council members criticize the police force. Up until this year, this city doesn't do that. But today they did it and I've got to give them credit. Today they stepped up and did it."
Sanders said based on what he has heard, the grand jury should issue an indictment in this case.
"It might be for manslaughter or something else," Sanders said. "But in my opinion it ought to be murder."
Manny Ramirez, the president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, said the shooting was tragic and he wants there to be a full, thorough and transparent investigation. Any path forward must be collaborative, Ramirez said.
"We've had some failures here that must be addressed," Ramirez said. "This should never have happened."
Jefferson was a pre-med graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans and working on pharmaceutical equipment sales, said S. Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney retained by Jefferson's family. She was considering going back to medical school.
Leaders and community activists called for accountability and police reform after Saturday's shooting.
Merritt said Jefferson's death is another example of excessive use of police force in Fort Worth. Since June, Fort Worth officers have shot seven people, six of them fatally.
This shooting took place days after a Dallas police officer, Amber Guyger, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting a black man who she mistook as an intruder inside of his apartment, which she inadvertently entered.
In Guyger's case, the Texas Rangers were called upon to investigate the shooting.
According to police, there have been nine officer-involved shootings this year in Fort Worth as of Oct. 14. One resulted in injury and six, all of which occurred after June 1, resulted in death. Two shootings resulted in no injury, according to police. So far this year two Hispanic men, two white men, four black men and one black woman have been shot by police.
As of Oct. 14 last year, there were eight officer-involved shootings and 10 total for the year 2018. Four people died and six were injured, police said. Police shot one Hispanic man, five white men, three black men and one black woman, according to police records.
