Amber Guyger, the former Dallas cop who fatally shot her unarmed Black neighbor in his own apartment, cried on the witness stand on day 5 of her murder trial.
Guyger, 31, claims she was “scared to death” when she shot Botham Jean twice as he stood up from the sofa when she entered his apartment on the night of Sept. 6, 2018.
She cried while defense attorney Toby Shook questioned her about the events that led up to the shooting.
Guyger testified that she believed a stranger was inside her own apartment when she arrived home after working a 13-hour shift.
“I was scared to death,” Guyger said, adding that her “heart rate just skyrocketed.”
The Dallas native said she “never wanted to take an innocent person’s life.”
Guyger then reenacted how she arrived at the apartment on the 4th floor – one floor above her own.
She testified that when she put the key into the lock she noticed the door was ajar. She then saw the silhouette of a figure and pulled out her gun and yelled, “Let me see your hands! Let me see hands!” she said.
She said she saw the figure move and that Jean yelled “Hey! Hey! Hey!” in an “aggressive” voice.
“I was scared he was going to kill me,” she testified.
Prosecutors say Guyger was so distracted by steamy text messages from her police officer lover that she didn’t notice Jean was sitting in his own living room eating a bowl of ice cream.
Dallas Det. Stephen Clearly also pointed out that Guyger’s apartment had photos hanging on a wall, a bookshelf in the corner and a small table with a vase of flowers against the wall. Jean’s apartment had art hanging on the wall behind the couch, an ottoman in the living room and a workstation set up near the bar.
