New court records continue to shed details on the shooting of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old black man living in Dallas, Texas, by a white off-duty police officer. Amber Guyger fatally shot Jean in the chest after entering his apartment in the dark, believing it was her own.
According to an affidavit released on Monday Sept. 10, Guyger told investigators that she shot Jean twice after he ignored her “verbal commands,” the Associated Press reports. Guyger also said that she was already on the phone with 911 to report the shooting when she switched on the lights, and only then discovered she was in the wrong apartment.
But protestors are disputing this account, saying that it misses key details and only serves in Guyger’s defense.
“It would be irresponsible to rely on this extremely bizarre, self-serving affidavit,” said Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Jean’s family, according to the New York Times.
During a news conference, Merritt cited two witnesses whose accounts were at odds with the official account. One neighbor said she heard a woman’s voice saying, “Let me in! Let me in!” before the gunshots. Another heard Jean say: “Oh my god! Why did you do that?”
Alyssa Kinsey, another of Jean’s neighbors, also previously told CNN that even though the apartment doors in the building are similar, Jean’s had a distinctive bright red mat in front.
Observers have pointed out that it took a full three days before Guyger was charged with manslaughter, and that it was the Texas Rangers, not the local Dallas Police Department, that made the arrest. And tensions around the case continue to escalate as NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch said Jean would still be alive if he owned a gun.