Ex-Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger wept on the witness stand Friday morning, her voice soft and trembling as she repeated “I’m sorry” to the courtroom and expressed regret over taking her neighborbor’s life aftermistaking his apartment for hers.
“I feel like a piece of crap,” she said, sobbing. “I hate that I have to live with this and ask God for forgiveness, and I hate myself every single day.”
“I wish he was the one with the gun and had killed me , “she said of her neighbor, Botham Jean. “I never wanted to take an innocent person’s life. I’m so sorry. This is not about hate – it’s about being scared.”
Guyger’s testimony began the fifth day inher murder trial, as her defense team attempted to make the former officer and her actions relatable to jurors – in sharp contrast to prosecutors, who questioned why she felt obligated to use deadly force. She laid out a narrative of what she says happened on Sept. 6, 2018, when she left her job at the Dallas Police Department and returned to her apartment complex, where she went to Jean’s unit on the wrong floor and believed he was a burglar inside her apartment.
“I was scared that he was going to come at me and kill me, “she said.
Guyger said she was tired after a 13 – 1/2-hour shift and “just ready to go home” before she arrived at Jean’s unit, drawing her service weapon and fatally shooting him in the chest. She was in uniform but off duty at the time.
She became emotional on the stand when defense attorney Toby Shook began questioning her about how she tried to use her electronic key fob to open the door to Jean’s apartment, and had her recreate that moment following a brief break so that Guyger could compose herself.
Guyger said she had her work bag and police vest slung on her left arm, and used her right hand to put the key in the lock. The door was already open.
“I was scared,” she said. “Your heart rate just skyrockets.”
Guyger said she saw a “silhouette figure” in the distance near the window, drew her weapon and began shouting, “Let me see your hands! me see your hands! “
Jean, she added, appeared to be coming toward her and yelled,” Hey! Hey! Hey! ” in an “aggressive voice.”
That’s when she shot him, she said.
She only realized she was in the wrong apartment after seeing an ottoman in the middle of the floor and noticed the television was on, she testified.
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