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December 23, 2019

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Officer Aaron Dean for Murdering Atatiana Jefferson
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In Texas, a grand jury has indicted former Fort Worth police officer
Aaron Dean for murdering Atatiana Jefferson in a case that sparked
widespread outrage over police killings of African-American women.
Officer Dean, who is white, was responding to a non-emergency call for a
wellness check called for by a neighbor who saw Jefferson's front door
was open on a warm night in October. The 28-year-old graduate student
was in her bedroom, babysitting her 8-year-old nephew. Soon after the
officers arrived, Dean shouted through Jefferson's bedroom window to put
her hands up, and then immediately opened fire, killing her. He never
identified himself as a police officer. On Friday, Atatiana's mother
celebrated the murder indictment. Atatiana's father died in November of
a heart attack, at the age of 58, less than one month after his
daughter's murder.


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