Witness in ex-Dallas officer’s murder trial reportedly shot and killed

DALLAS —  A witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing authorities.

The newspaper reported that authorities said Joshua Brown was shot and killed Friday in Dallas. The 28-year-old Brown lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean when Guyger shot Jean to death in September 2018.

Brown testified in Guyger’s trial about the night 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.

Guyger was convicted Tuesday and sentenced the next day to 10 years in prison. Guyger, 31, was still in her police uniform after a long shift when, according to her testimony at trial, she said she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own, which was one floor below. She said she pushed open Jean’s unlocked door and shot the 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, thinking he was a burglar.

She was fired from the department soon after the shooting.

A Dallas police spokesman on Saturday would not confirm to the Associated Press that it was Brown who was shot Friday. He said the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office would determine the identification Sunday.

Police said in a news release that they responded to the shooting shortly after 10:30 p.m. Friday. They said several witnesses flagged officers down when they arrived and directed them to an apartment parking lot where the man who was shot was lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding out of the parking lot, according to the police news release.

Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Jean family, said in a tweet Saturday that he spoke with Brown’s mother.

“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.”