Aaron Dean explains the evening he shot Atatiana Jefferson.
01:35 Aaron Dean discusses the evening he shot Atatiana Jefferson.
Monday, a former Texas police officer testified in his murder trial that he made mistakes but fatally shot a Black woman through the rear window of her home in 2019 as she pointed a firearm at him.
On the fourth day of his trial for the death of the 28-year-old woman, Aaron Dean testified that Atatiana Jefferson had the revolver “aimed straight at me” but repeatedly admitted his actions were “poor police work.” It was Dean’s first public statement in the more than three years after the white Fort Worth cop shot and killed Jefferson in response to a complaint about an open front door.
“I was looking directly down the barrel of the gun when I noticed that it was pointed at me. I fired one shot from my service pistol “Dean stated in his testimony.
On Monday, December 12, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas, the defendant Aaron Dean responds while testifying. Amanda McCoy / AP
Dean admitted under cross-examination that he did not identify himself as a police officer or mention the gun before opening fire, nor did he inform another officer about the firearm before entering the residence.
Repeatedly, as he recounted the events, prosecutors questioned whether his actions constituted “more poor police work.” Again and again, Dean said, “yes.”
Within days of the October 12, 2019 shooting, the Fort Worth Police Department revealed body camera footage and arrested Dean for murder. He resigned the force without speaking to investigators.
Since then, Dean’s case was frequently postponed amid lawyerly squabbling, the terminal sickness of Dean’s lead counsel and the COVID-19 pandemic. Wednesday, after roughly two and a half days of testimony, Tarrant County prosecutors rested their case.
Dean shot Jefferson after a neighbor reported that Jefferson’s front door was unlocked to a non-emergency police line. She and her nephew had been playing video games that night, and it was revealed at trial that they had left the doors open to vent the smoke from the hamburgers the child had burned.
Dean and a second officer who responded to the complaint did not identify themselves as police at the residence, according to bodycam footage. Officer Carol Darch said last week that she and Dean suspected the residence had been burglarized and moved into the enclosed backyard with pistols drawn to search for traces of forced entry.
Dean fired a single shot through the window there, a split-second after yelling for Jefferson to show her hands.
Dean said on Monday that his view of the shadowy backyard was clearer than the footage from his body camera, but that he was unable to determine the color or gender of the person in the window. He stated that he fired after seeing a gun “quite near” and that his muzzle flash temporarily blinded him.
“When my vision cleared, I noticed the woman we now know to be Miss Jefferson,” he sobbed. “I witnessed her fall after hearing her scream.”
Dean confessed entering private property by entering the backyard and lingering in front of the “fatal funnel” of the darkened window during cross-examination. He stated that he observed Jefferson’s gun but “never actually observed her hands.”
Dean shot with Darch’s back to the window, but according to Darch, Dean never reported seeing a gun before pulling the trigger, nor did he mention the weapon as they hurried into the home to hunt for it.
From within the room, Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew observed his aunt being shot. Zion Carr said that Jefferson drew her gun because she believed there was an intruder in the backyard, but he provided conflicting stories as to whether she pointed it out the window.
Carr, who is now 11 years old, testified on the first day of the trial that Jefferson always held the gun down, but in an interview made shortly after the shooting and played in court, he stated that she pointed the rifle at the window.
Dean stated that after the shooting, he was surprised to see the child still inside the house, as he believed someone had been taking items.
“I wonder, “Who brings a child to a burglary?” What is happening? “he said.
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