Atatiana Jefferson: Ex-US officer guilty of killing woman in bedroom

A former US police officer who shot dead a woman in her bedroom has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Aaron Dean faces up to 20 years in prison over the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019.

He pleaded not guilty to murder, but was convicted of manslaughter by a jury on Thursday after a two-week trial.

Ms Jefferson was black. Dean, who is white, will be sentenced at a later date.

Ms Jefferson had been playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew before she went to investigate a noise outside her window, carrying a handgun that she owned. It was around 02:30 local time on 12 October 2019.

Ms Jefferson and her nephew had burned some hamburgers while cooking and opened the doors to ventilate the home. Seeing the doors open late at night, a concerned neighbour called police.

Body cam footage released by Fort Worth Police Department shows Dean shouted at Ms Jefferson to put her hands up before immediately firing through the glass.

A point of contention during the trial was whether Dean saw the gun in Ms Jefferson’s hand before pulling the trigger.

Prosecutors argued there was no evidence of this, but Dean’s lawyers said he fired in self-defence.

Dean, who resigned from the police before his arrest, showed no emotion as the verdict was read, according reporters in court.

Ms Jefferson’s death took place about seven months before the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, who knelt on his neck area for over eight minutes.

Mr Floyd’s death led to global demonstrations against racism and police brutality.