Although authorities have made few connections between Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who shot an unarmed black man, Bonham Jean, inside his own apartment on September 6, an attorney representing the victim’s family indicated that the suspect may have made a noise complaint against the victim on the day he died.
While speaking to CNN, lawyer S. Lee Merritt claimed that the he has no theory as to why the tragedy happened. However, he stated noise complaints may have played a part. Gugyer, 30, who walked into 26-year-old Jean’s apartment on September 6 at the South Side Flats apartment complex in Dallas, claimed that she mistakenly went to the wrong apartment and opened fire after she thought a burglary was in progress. Jean was killed in his own apartment.
“There were noise complaints from the immediate downstairs neighbors about whoever was upstairs, and that would have been Botham. In fact, there was a noise complaint that very day about upstairs activity in Botham’s apartment. Botham received a phone call about noise coming from his apartment from the downstairs neighbor,” Merritt told CNN.
Merritt didn’t specify if the apartment complex named the tenant who complained, but he did indicate that the complaint came from someone directly below Jean, which would have been Guyger. The suspect lives on the third floor of the high-rise apartment building while Jean lived directly above her, on the 4th floor.
“In fact, there were noise complaints that very day about upstairs activity in Botham’s apartment,” Merritt continued. “Botham received a phone call about noise coming from his apartment from the downstairs neighbor.”
Meanwhile, there’s also a contradiction about how the incident occurred. As CrimeOnline previously reported, in a video provided to DailyMail.com by an unnamed resident who lives in the same apartment building where Jean was killed, said Guyger wouldn’t have walked to an open door without someone or something holding it open. The doors at the South Side Flats apartment complex, as seen in the video, are “fire doors” that automatically close unless someone puts an object in place to hold it ajar or someone holds it open.
According to Guyger’s reported version of events, she walked up to what she thought was her own apartment on September 6 and became alarmed when she found the door ajar. The off-duty officer said she thought a burglary was in progress and pulled out her weapon. She claimed when Jean ignored her “verbal commands,” she shot him, then later turned the lights on and realized she was not in her own apartment.
“These are fire doors. You can’t really leave it open,” the neighbor said.
Amber Guyger Search Warrant by Leigh Egan on Scribd
In another reported contradiction, the arrest affidavit for Guyger claimed she opened the apartment door with her key and saw a “large silhouette” inside the apartment, according to the Star-Telegram. The neighbor indicated that would have been impossible as well.
“The key situation too – you can’t get into any place, you can’t. It’s impossible. You can put it in but you can’t open it. You can put it into somebody else’s key hole but you can’t open anything. This key isn’t programmed for my door – if I put it in, nothing happens apart from this red light.”
A witness at the apartment complex said they heard a female say, “Let me in! Let me in!” before hearing gunshots fired.
“I guess he must have opened the door and she saw a black man inside what she thought was her apartment and so she went ahead and shot him,” another tenant in the apartment complex said.
Guyger turned herself in three days after the shooting took place. She was charged with manslaughter and released after she made her $300,000 bail.
The story continues to develop. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: Botham Jean/Facebook; Amber Guyger/Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office]
