Yet more questions have emerged about the death of Botham Jean, a Dallas man shot in his own home by an off-duty police officer.
Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, who lived in the apartment directly below Jean's, says she mistook his residence for her own. According to an arrest affidavit for Guyger, she returned from a shift Thursday night and attempted to enter Jean's apartment using her "unique door key." Since the door was already ajar, it "fully opened under the force of the key insertion," the affidavit says. She then claims to have encountered Jean, believed him to be a burglar, and shot him twice after he ignored her "verbal commands." Jean was later declared dead at a nearby hospital.
Now KXAS reports that the day after the shooting, a Dallas Police Department investigator obtained a warrant to search Jean's apartment. The warrant, signed by 292nd District Court Judge Brandon Birmingham, says the police intended to look for "any contraband, such as narcotics," that could "constitute[e] evidence of a criminal offense."
The warrant seems to suggest police had reason to believe some sort of illegal substance was present at Jean's residence. When asked whether such probable cause existed, a Dallas police spokesperson referred Reason to the Texas Rangers, who took over the investigation soon after the shooting. A Texas Rangers spokesperson, in turn, referred Reason to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.
A spokesperson for the district attorney said the search warrant was "fairly standard" for such a high-profile case, but added that "no specifics about the case will be released at this time to maintain the integrity of the case."
