Former Fort Worth officer Aaron Dean was indicted by a Texas grand jury on Friday (December 20) and was charged with the murder of pre-med graduate student Atatiana Jefferson.
35-year-old Dean shot and killed Jefferson, 28, through a bedroom window while she was babysitting her 8-year-old nephew in October. He was responding to a call from a neighbor who said that the door of Jefferson's mother's home, where she was at the time, was left open for a worrying period of time.
Jefferson heard someone outside of the home and grabbed her gun, and Dean can be heard on his bodycam telling her to "Put your hands up, show me your hands." He fired a single shot at Jefferson, killing her in front of her nephew.
Police later stated that Jefferson was in her right to protect herself inside of the home, with Chief of Police Ed Kraus stating, "It makes sense that she would have a gun if she felt that she was being threatened or that there was someone in the back yard." Dean resigned following the incident.
Following Dean's indictment, the Tarrant County prosecutors stated that they "will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law."
Source: NBC News
