A Texas police officer who fatally shot a Black woman through a rear window of her home three years ago didn’t say the woman was holding a gun before he pulled the trigger and never mentioned the weapon before searching the house, the officer who was with him that night testified Tuesday.
Fort Worth Officer Carol Darch’s testimony in Aaron Dean’s murder trial for killing Atatiana Jefferson spoke to a key issue in the case: whether Dean saw Jefferson’s gun before he opened fire. Dean's lawyers say the white officer saw the weapon, while prosecutors contend that the evidence will show otherwise.
Darch, 27, took the witness stand on the second day of the long-delayed trial and recalled Dean shooting the 28-year-old Jefferson while the officers were responding to a call about an open front door on Oct. 12, 2019. She acknowledged having memory problems because of two strokes she has suffered since then.
