Killing of Atatiana Jefferson

Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, a 28-year-old African-American woman and pre-medical graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, was fatally shot inside her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in the early morning hours of October 12, 2019. Jefferson had been living with her mother and nephew since May 2019 and, according to relatives, worked in human resources. She was reportedly playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew when officers arrived at the home.

Police had been dispatched to the residence after a neighbor called a non-emergency line reporting that the front door was open. Although initially described as a "welfare call," it was later established at trial that officers had actually been dispatched to an "open structure" call, typically associated with potential burglary, which carries different police procedures. Body camera footage showed two officers walking quietly around the side of the house before Officer Aaron Dean entered the backyard. Upon seeing Jefferson in her window, Dean shouted "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" and fired a single shot through the window within seconds, without officers audibly identifying themselves as police. Jefferson's nephew testified that she had taken her legally owned handgun—she held a concealed carry license—from her purse and walked to the window holding it at her side after hearing noises outside. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:05 a.m.

Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus identified Dean as the shooter on October 14, 2019. Dean, who had been with the department about 18 months, resigned that day before he could be fired for alleged violations of use-of-force, de-escalation, and professional conduct policies. He was arrested the same day and charged with murder, posting a $200,000 bond. Dean declined to give a statement to investigators. On December 20, 2019, a Tarrant County grand jury indicted Dean on the murder charge, making him the only officer to face a murder charge in Tarrant County for an on-duty shooting.

Dean's trial faced repeated delays related to COVID-19 court backlogs, witness availability, a change-of-venue motion, attorney health issues, and a successful motion to recuse the original judge. The trial finally began on December 5, 2022, before Judge George Gallagher. On December 15, 2022, a jury found Dean not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser included offense of manslaughter. He was sentenced on December 20, 2022, to 11 years, 10 months, and 12 days in prison—a term the jury appeared to tie symbolically to the date of the shooting. Dean is imprisoned at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas.

The Jefferson family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Dean and the City of Fort Worth in May 2021. Dean's qualified immunity defense was litigated up to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in February 2025 that he was not entitled to qualified immunity on the excessive force claim, while a divided panel found he was entitled to qualified immunity on a related Fourth Amendment curtilage question.