A woman has posted videos on Instagram that she says show the aftermath of the shooting death of Botham Jean, the Saint Lucian-born businessman who was gunned down in his own apartment doorway by an uniformed, but off-duty, Dallas police officer.
Dallas police have identified the police officer as Amber Guyger. You can read more about Officer Guyger here.
Guyger was arrested by the Texas Rangers in Kaufman County, Texas on the evening of September 9, 2018, and is being accused of manslaughter, jail records show.
Kaufman County Jail online records show that Guyger is in custody there. Her mugshot is also available on the public site. She is being held on $300,000 bail.
Amber Guyger jail records
Here is the officer’s mugshot up close:
Kaufman Co jailAmber Guyger’s mugshot
You can watch the two videos later in this article, but be aware that one is graphic as it shows, albeit from a distance, officers attempting to revive a man on a stretcher through CPR. The other video shows a female officer pacing in the hall and talking on the telephone. However, the videos represent the first claimed documentary evidence to publicly emerge in a story that is very bizarre as authorities say it appears the female officer, so far unnamed, went to Jean’s apartment by mistake, thinking it was her own – and then shot and killed him.
Heavy has verified that the Instagram page belongs to a woman who lives in the Dallas, Texas area and has reached out several ways to her for comment. On Instagram, she goes by the name @bunny.babbs. This story will be updated if comment is received. Heavy also showed the two videos to Alyssa Kinsey, Jean’s next-door neighbor, who said in interviews to Heavy and The Dallas Morning News that she heard the gunshot and looked out her peephole to see the officer pacing the hall and calling 911.
Kinsey verified that the videos do in fact show the apartment hallway where she and Botham Jean live. She also said that the circumstances that unfold in the videos match what she saw and heard that night. For example, Kinsey heard officers attempting to perform CPR on Jean. “That is the hallway,” she said after watching the videos (she is not the woman who posted them). “I can confirm.”
The Instagram user has now privatized her account. Here are the videos she posted. The first one shows the CPR attempt; it’s tilted sideways in part because that’s how the user posted it.
Here is the second video:
The Instagram user wrote the following with the videos:
“My night was interrupted by a cop ‘mistakenly’ murdering a neighbor. I seem to be the only one with any footage of this , so here you go.. first video is the cop a few seconds after she pulled the trigger, crying. And the second video is them pretending to revive what I believe to be an already deseased (sic) victim. These clips come from a 10 minute video. First clip is 57 seconds into the video. The second clip is at 7:33… there was 6 minutes she spent crying in the hall. I’m not intrested in selling this footage so go ahead and tag the blogs you want cause I’m sure my post and/or IG will magically disappear soon. #BothamJean.”
Here’s a screenshot of the post as it originally appeared on Instagram:
Here’s what you need to know:
Kinsey Says the Scenes in the Videos Match What She Saw & Heard
The outside of Botham Jean’s apartment
Kinsey, Jean’s next-door neighbor who was so close she shared a wall with him, wrote on Facebook, “This happened in the apartment next to me, to my very kind and friendly neighbor. I am absolutely heartbroken. Please, please keep his family in your prayers and send love and light their way. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are in.” She shared a GoFundMe page for Jean’s family. It reads, “We are mourning the loss of our brother Botham Jean. He was a great Christian example and an inspiration to us all. We are asking for donations to cover funeral arrangements, his family’s travel expenses, and anything else they may encounter. He will be missed.”
Kinsey provided a photo of the outside of Jean’s apartment to Heavy, which you can see above.
In the interview with Heavy, Kinsey said, “I was talking to my boyfriend, heard a shot, then some sort of commotion. Sounded like yelling/running/some loudness so I jumped up, ran to the door, looked out the peep hole, didn’t see anything at that moment but I could hear a woman calling 911 and hyperventilating.”
Kinsey told Heavy that she saw the female officer pacing in the apartment hallway. She heard the officer say the apartment number and the words “was shot,” but she adds, “she was pacing away from me at that point.”
After hearing the shooting, Kinsey says, “I then posted on nextdoor app as a warning. I did not hear pounding or yelling before the shot. These halls are echoey so I feel like I’d hear it but maybe not.”
She added, “I’ve never seen a cop on this part of our floor” before. “This is just so so awful. I want justice for him and his family,” said Kinsey, who added that she had never seen the officer before.
She told Heavy that she tried to step outside her apartment “once the cops started swarming but they told me to stay inside.” She heard people saying things like, “We have an officer working on CPR” and “Where’s the stretcher.”
Kinsey added, “I heard the lady cop say ‘I need to call my partner’ and another cop said ‘okay go but don’t tell him anything.'” She called what happened an “absolute tragedy” and characterized the story as “bizarre.”
She said of her neighbor, “He’s the last person I could ever imagine this happening to.” To show what a good person Jean was, she told the story about how she was struggling to move furniture in the apartment complex hallway one day. “But it proved to be a challenge and he came down the hall and saw me struggling, kind of laughed at how ridiculous I looked, but he swooped in and helped me get everything in my place and made sure that was all of it out of my car,” she said.
Jean, she said, was the only neighbor who said “hi” when she moved into the apartment complex. They spoke about their jobs and Jean “always had a good attitude” and characterized his current job as a “stepping stone.”
“He helped me move furniture, we drank beers on the porch together, talked about living in Dallas and traffic and life, him and my boyfriend talked and argued sports. He always had a huge smile that would light up a room” and always made sure to say, “Hey, how are you?” recalled Kinsey.
“He was a genuinely great man.” She wrote on Facebook: “Rest In Power, Bo. I have no more words.”
Other Tributes & Praise Flowed in From Those Who Knew Botham Jean as He Was Described as a Positive Leader in His Church, Campus & Community
Facebook/Botham Shem JeanBotham Shem Jean
Botham Shem Jean, a recent college graduate known for his leadership and singing voice in church, was originally from the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia, and, according to their Facebook comments and tributes, he was the pride of his family, a young man who came to America to study accounting and for whom great things were expected.
The cop wasn’t at her apartment door; she was at Botham Jean’s, police acknowledged in a statement. She then shot him, authorities say. Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said at a press conference that investigators are working to obtain an arrest warrant charging the officer with manslaughter. The officer’s name will be released when she is charged, Hall told reporters Friday afternoon. The officer, who is not in custody, worked in patrol. Hall said her department requested the Texas Rangers conduct an independent investigation into the shooting. Hall said when they first responded to the call, they believed it was an “officer-involved shooting,” but the circumstances changed as more details were revealed, creating, “a very unique situation.” She said, “We have ceased handling it under our normal protocol as an officer-involved shooting.”
Botham Shem Jean, whose nickname was “Bo,” hailed from a family in top positions in Saint Lucia’s government. According to St. Lucia Times, Jean was the son of Allison Jean, described as “former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and sustainable Development” and Bertram Jean, who was a store supervisor for Water and Sewerage Company Inc., known as WASCO. His uncle, Ignatius Jean, is “Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association Inc. (CAWASA) and former government Minister and Parliamentarian,” St. Lucia Times reported.
On LinkedIn, Botham Jean described himself as an “aspiring young professional” who was “engaged in developing a career built upon integrity, dedication and relationships.” He was working in Dallas as a risk assurance associate for PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his LinkedIn page. In college, he was president of a Young Leaders group.
Alyssa Kinsey told Heavy in an interview that Jean was a great person.
“He was really just as great as all the stories say….. a huge bright smile, kind, smart, respectful, genuine… I’m just at a complete loss,” she said.
Jean’s mother Allie Jean told NBC News: “He did no one any wrong.” The shooting occurred at an upscale apartment complex called South Side Flats not far from downtown Dallas, NBC reported.
“Somebody has to be crazy not to realize that they walked into the wrong apartment,” Allie Jean said. “He’s a bachelor. Things are different inside,” Allie Jean told NBC. His sister, Alissa Charles-Findley, wrote on Facebook: “Just last week I was thinking of what to get you for your birthday, now I have to go pick out your casket. You will always be my baby brother. I love you with all of my heart Botham Shem Jean. Until we meet again my love.”
Botham Shem Jean’s uncle Earl Jean, who is a coach from Saint Lucia, posted a photo tribute to his deceased nephew on Facebook.
“My heart goes with you my boy…never thought this day would come ,wanted to be there for you always my boy …how can this nasty world take you away from me ….this is the worst day of my life thus far….uncle loves you so much …there goes Mr.botham shem Jean….iam lost for words…part of me has left !Gone with the Angel’s ….lord keep me sane,” wrote a heartbroken Earl Jean.
Police Say the Police Officer Was in Full Uniform When She Mistakenly Approached the Apartment of Jean
FacebookBotham Shem Jean
Although the officer has not yet been identified, police did provide some details. “On September 6, 2018 at about 9:59 p.m., an off duty Dallas Police officer called police dispatch and said she was involved in a shooting at the apartments located at 1210 S. Lamar,” they wrote.
“Preliminary information suggests that the officer arrived home in full uniform after working a full shift. The officer reported to the responding officers that she entered the victim’s apartment believing that it was her own. At some point, the officer fired her weapon striking the victim. Responding officers administered aid to the victim, a 26-year-old male, at the scene. The victim was then transported to the hospital and pronounced deceased.”
Dallas Police told Fox 4 News’ Steve Eagar that the officer was on the wrong floor of the apartment building, the South Side Flats, when the shooting occurred. Her apartment was on another floor, Eagar reports. “Her key didn’t work in the door. Shooting happened shortly after resident opened his own door,” he wrote on Twitter. He said she was continuing to try to open the door with her key when the door was opened.
Police Chief Renee Hall said at a press conference she does not know when the officer’s shift ended. A blood draw was taken from the officer to test for drugs and alcohol, Hall said. She told reporters, “we are in the process of obtaining a warrant based on the circumstances that we have right now.”
Hall told reporters “it’s not clear what interaction was between them, but at some point, she fired her weapon, striking the victim. She called 911, officers responded in about four minutes. Dallas Fire Rescue also responded and took Mr. Jean to the hospital, where he later died. At the very early stages of this investigation early indications were that we were dealing with an officer-involved shooting. However, as we continued the investigation it became clear we were dealing with much of what appears to be a very unique situation. Therefore, we have ceased handling it under our normal officer-involved shooting protocol.”
Hall said the fact the officer was off duty changed it from being an officer-involved shooting investigation.
“At my request we are in the process of obtaining a warrant based on the circumstances that we have right now,” Hall said. “We have also invited the Texas Rangers to begin an independent investigation. They have just arrived a moment ago and they are currently being briefed. I’ve spoken with the Jean family, his sister, Alissa, specifically. My condolences have been given to them and we have reassured them that we are working diligently and we have invited an outside agency to investigate this. Right now there are more questions than we have answers. We understand the concerns of this community and that is why we are working as vigorously and meticulous as we can to ensure the integrity of this case and the integrity of the department is upheld. In doing so, we hope to bring understanding and clarity to the family.”
At a press conference, which you can watch above, Hall said, “My condolences to the Botham Shem Jean family. We want to be and we will be as transparent in this investigation as we can be.” She added, “We ask that you, this community and the media work alongside of us in this process.” Hall spoke only briefly at the press conference and took limited questions, walking out as angry reporters yelled questions at her, saying they had more to ask about what is a “big story.” She ignored their questions and left the room. The press conference had already been delayed about an hour when she came out.
READ NEXT: More People Praise Botham Jean’s Life