'Suspicious': Witness in Ex-Dallas Officer's Murder Trial Shot and Killed, Police Have No Suspect or Motive
A key witness in the murder trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was shot and killed Friday evening.
Joshua Brown, who lived across the hall from victim Botham Jean, testified about the night Jean was shot and killed.
Guyger was still in her police uniform after a long shift when, according to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean's apartment for her own. She was on the wrong floor, one floor below her apartment, and shot Jean after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar.
Brown, 28, testified in Guyger's trial about the night of Sept. 6, 2018, when Jean was killed, saying 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.
Brown 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.
Different Apartment Complex
Law enforcement officials said they responded to a shooting shortly after 10:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at an apartment complex different from the one where Jean was killed. They said several witnesses flagged officers down when they arrived and directed them to an apartment parking lot where the man, later identified as Brown, was lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and thigh, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Brown was taken to a local hospital where he later died.
Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding out of the parking lot, according to a police news release.
Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Jean family and also the attorney for Brown, said in a tweet Saturday that he spoke with Brown's mother and that she is "devastated."
"We all are," Merritt said. "Joshua Brown was a key witness in the murder of Botham Jean that helped put Amber Guyger away. We need answers."
"Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family," he said in a statement.
According to Merritt, Brown would have also been a key witness in the Jean family's civil suit against the city of Dallas.
"To have a key witness, suddenly be killed is suspicious. Was this related to the trial? There is no clear indication," Merritt told CBS News on Monday.
Dallas County prosecutor Jason Hermus said Brown "bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn't," according to the Dallas Morning News.
"If we had more people like him, we would have a better world," said Hermus, who was the lead prosecutor in the case.
Police have no suspect or motive in the case.
Guyger was sentenced to 10 years for shooting and killing the Dallas worship leader Botham Jean while he was inside his own home eating a bowl of ice cream.
Jean's younger brother Brandt publicly forgave Guyger and told her that the best thing would be for her to give her life to Christ.
After he hugged Guyger, Judge Tammy Kemp gave her a Bible and directed her to the New Testament's and hugged her as well.
The moment of forgiveness was captured on video and went viral on social media.
