A WHITE Texas cop who shot and killed a black woman in her own home was last night charged with murder.

Aaron Dean, 34, was booked into jail on Monday hours after resigning from Fort Worth police over the death of Atatiana Jefferson.

Dean acted without justification and would have been fired if he didn't quit, his former police chief said earlier.

The death of 28-year-old Ms Jefferson has sparked outrage and further fuelled allegations of a deadly race problem in some US police forces.

Shocking police bodycam footage released yesterday showed Dean approaching the door of Ms Jefferson's home early on Saturday.

He was responding to a non-emergency call about an open front door while Ms Jefferson was caring for her 8-year-old Nephew.

HARROWING VIDEO

After arriving at around 2:25am, Dean walked around the side of the house and pushed through a gate into the fenced-off backyard.

The harrowing video then shows him firing through the glass a split-second after shouting at Jefferson to show her hands.

Dean was not heard identifying himself as police on the video.

Yesterday, Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said there was no sign Dean or the other officer who responded even knocked on the front door.

Why this man is not in handcuffs is a source of continued agitation for this family and for this community.

Kraus added: "Nobody looked at this video and said that there's any doubt that this officer acted inappropriately."

Earlier in the day, Jefferson's family demanded that Dean be fired and arrested.

Family attorney Lee Merritt said: "Why this man is not in handcuffs is a source of continued agitation for this family and for this community."

PLAYING WITH NEPHEW

Jefferson, an aspiring medic, was staying up late playing video games with her nephew when she was killed, according to Mr Merritt.

The video released by police included images of a gun inside a bedroom.

Police Chief Kraus said he did not know whether Jefferson was holding the weapon.

But he said the mere fact she had a gun shouldn't be considered unusual in Texas.

"We're homeowners in Texas," the police chief said.

"Most of us, if we thought we had somebody outside our house that shouldn't be and we had access to a firearm, we would be acting very similarly to how she was acting."

Kraus said that releasing the images of the weapon was "a bad thing to do" in hindsight.

Atatiana's stepmother Noella Jefferson said: "We have lost her for no reason.

"We have seen many cases like this where you think that they would have learned from it."

Source: Read Full Article