Botham Jean shooting: Key witness in trial, Joshua Brown, fatally shot; homicide detectives at work to identify suspects, motive

A man who was fatally shot has been identified as a key witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who killed her Black neighbour, Dallas police said on Sunday. Joshua Xavier Brown, 28, was found on Friday night in the parking lot of an apartment complex with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Brown was pronounced dead at a hospital. Brown lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean and testified at Guyger’s trial, where she was convicted of murder on Tuesday. The Jean family attorney, Lee Merritt, posted a statement on Twitter that said he had spoken with Brown’s mother and “she is devastated.” “We need answers,” Merritt wrote. Homicide detectives are seeking the public’s help in identifying suspects and a motive in Brown’s death. [caption id=“attachment_7461691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Botham Jean’s younger brother Brandt Jean hugged convicted murderer and former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger after delivering his impact statement to her after she was sentenced to 10 years in jail. AP[/caption] The shooting that killed Brown happened at a different apartment complex, according to a Dallas police news release. That statement said several witnesses flagged down officers who were responding to a call about the shooting. The witnesses directed police to the parking lot where a man was lying on the ground. Witnesses described hearing several gunshots, according to the news release, and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding off from the parking lot. No one else was shot. Merritt said Brown “deserves the justice he sought to ensure the Jean family.” Kimberly Leach, director of communications for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, did not immediately reply to telephone and email requests Sunday from The Associated Press seeking comment about the case. Brown’s testimony Brown was a key witness in the trial of Guyger, who was charged in Jean’s slaying in September 2018. According to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own one floor below and shot him after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar. Brown said he was in a hallway on the fourth floor, where he and Jean lived. He said he heard what sounded like “two people meeting by surprise” and then two gunshots. At times during his testimony, Brown became emotional and used his T-shirt and tissue to wipe his tears. He said he had met Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St Lucia, for the first time earlier that day. What happened Amber Guyger, a Dallas police officer, fatally shot Botham Jean in his fourth-floor apartment on 6 September 2019, which she said she mistook for her own one floor below. On the night of the shooting, Guyger, returning from a long shift, parked on the wrong floor and, she added, mistook Jean’s apartment for her own, which was directly below his. He was eating ice cream at the time. She said she thought he was a burglar and opened fire. Prosecutors questioned how she could have missed numerous signs that she was in the wrong place. They also asked why she did not call for backup and suggested she was distracted by sexually explicit messages she had been exchanging with her police partner, who was also her lover. Judgment Guyger, 31, was fired from the department soon after the shooting. She was sentenced on 2 October to 10 years in prison. The jury, made up largely of women and people of colour, could have sentenced her to up to life in prison or as little as two years. Prosecutors had asked for 28 years, which is how old Jean would have been if he were still alive. She will be eligible for parole in five years. Criticism People outside court reacted angrily on Wednesday to the punishment given to Guyger in the shooting of Botham Jean, arguing it was too lenient. Critics also blasted State District Judge Tammy Kemp, who is Black, calling her embrace of Guyger inappropriate and deeply offensive and wondering whether a Black defendant would have received such treatment. “I am saying that who gets harsh sentencing and who gets a break, with hugs and Bibles from judges and hair petted on by the police falls suspiciously down lines of race & privilege,” Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King tweeted. Dozens of demonstrators marched through downtown Dallas to protest the sentence. One woman was taken into custody after she appeared to disregard police orders not to obstruct traffic. The hug Jean’s brother, Brandt Jean, addressed the former officer directly from the witness stand, saying that his brother would have wanted her to turn her life over to Christ and that if she asks God for forgiveness, she will get it. “I love you as a person. I don’t wish anything bad on you,” he said before asking the judge, “I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug?” The judge said ‘OK’, and Brandt and Guyger stood up, met in front of the bench and embraced while Guyger cried. Judge Tammy Kemp also came down off the bench and hugged a sobbing Guyger before she was led from the courtroom. In addition, the judge opened a Bible to a certain passage and gave it to her. A Black bailiff in the courtroom patted the defendant’s hair. District Attorney John Creuzot called Brandt’s embrace of Guyger “an amazing act of healing and forgiveness that is rare in today’s society… especially for many of our leaders.” If Jean’s 18-year-old brother “can heal and express healing in that fashion, in his words and in his deeds, I would hope that the greater community, not just Dallas but all of Texas and all of the United States, could gain a message from that,” he said. Mayor Eric Johnson issued a statement saying he would “never, ever forget the incredible examples of love, faith and strength personified by Botham, Brandt and the entire Jean family.”