Young woman fatally shot by police officer pointed gun at window, suspected a prowler outside the home: Report

The 28-year-old woman who was fatally shot by a Fort Worth police officer this weekend reportedly pointed a gun at a window from inside her home after hearing suspicious noises outside the window.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean was arrested on murder charges for the fatal shooting of  Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old woman who was shot inside her home early Saturday after Dean and another officer reported to the home for a wellness check.

Police bodycam footage released by the Forth Worth police appears to show the officers moving quietly around the perimeter of the home; at no point are they heard announcing themselves. While outside a window, an officer is heard saying “Put your hands up. Show me your hands” just before firing a single shot.

According to a murder warrant obtained by the Dallas Morning News, Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew told police that his aunt had taken a gun from her purse and pointed it toward a window before she was killed.

At a news conference on Thursday, interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said the he believed the young woman thought there was an intruder just outside her home.

“[It] makes sense that she would have a gun if she felt that she was being threatened or there was someone in the backyard,” Kraus said, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Jefferson reportedly had a license to carry the gun, which was legally owned.

Dean was released on $200,000 bail late Monday. He resigned from the police force earlier the same day, before his arrest, and Kraus told reporters that Dean would have been fired if he had not resigned.

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