amphotora/iStock(DALLAS) — “I thought it was my apartment.”
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger repeated those words over a dozen times to a 911 dispatcher after she shot 26-year-old Botham Jean inside his own apartment on Sept. 6.
They lived on different floors in the same apartment complex, south of downtown Dallas. Guyger, 30, was still wearing her police uniform when she arrived home that night from working a full shift and apparently mistook Jean’s apartment for her own. She shot him when she opened the ajar door of the unit and saw a “large silhouette” in the nearly dark apartment, believing it was a burglar, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
That’s when Guyger, who was still in uniform, called 911 for help and provided first aid, according to the warrant.
ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV obtained a copy of the five-minute 911 call, which has not been officially released.
The dispatcher answers, “Dallas 911, this is Carla. What is your emergency?”
Guyger, who sounds distressed and out of breath throughout the call, says, “I’m an off-duty officer. I thought I was in my apartment and I shot a guy thinking he was, thinking it was my apartment.”
“You shot someone?” the dispatcher asks.
“Yes. I thought it was my apartment,” Guyger responds. “Oh my god. I’m sorry.”
The dispatcher tells Guyger that help is on the way.
“I know but I’m — I’m going to lose my job. I thought it was my apartment,” Guyger says.
Guyger can be heard talking to Jean while she waits for first responders to arrive. “Hey bud. Hey bud. Come on,” she says.
She tells the dispatcher to “hurry please.”
“I thought it was my apartment,” Guyger repeats over and over. “I could have sworn I parked on the third floor.”
“Hey, bud,” she’s heard saying to Jean again. “Hey, bud, they’re coming. They’re coming. I’m sorry, man.”
The dispatcher confirms with Guyger that she’s an officer with the Dallas Police Department.
“Yes,” Guyger says. “Oh my god. I’m done. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry. Hey, bud.”
The dispatcher assures Guyger that first responders are almost there.
“Stay with me, bud,” Guyger is heard telling Jean. “I thought it was my apartment. I thought it was my apartment.”
First responders arrive on scene and Guyger is heard telling them she’s an off-duty officer. The call ends seconds later.
Jean was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Jean grew up on the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia, where some of his family still lives. At the time of his death, he was working for PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services firm with an office in Dallas, according to the company.
“The sound of gunshots did not have the resonance to be heard on our small island, but their impact was of nuclear proportions,” Jean’s uncle, Ignatius Jean, told mourners at his funeral. “A nuke had been unleashed on our family by someone charged to protect and serve.”
Guyger turned herself in and was charged with manslaughter. She was released after posting bond.
A Dallas County grand jury indicted Guyger on a murder charge on Nov. 30, after deliberations and days of testimony from witnesses and Jean’s family.
Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department weeks after the shooting.
Guyger’s attorney, Robert Rogers, described the shooting as “a tragic mistake” and said his client “is completely devastated by what happened.” But when the case is presented in “a fair forum,” Rogers said, “the law and evidence” will prove she “is innocent.”
“I am not surprised that a grand jury came out with an indictment,” Rogers said in a Nov. 30 statement. “I believe emotion was injected into this that might have led the grand jury astray from just focusing on the law and the evidence.”
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